After fatigue cracks were detected
in early models, as of the end
of 2012 all A380s will incorporate
newly designed wing ribs.

IndiGo of India, Cebu Pacific Air of
the Philippines and Norwegian Air
Shuttle–a few of the airlines that
agreed to geared turbofan deals for
the A320neos at the show.

After initial release to service, the
British Army’s new helicopter made
its first flight on June 18. The army
is to receive 34 examples and the
Royal Navy 28.

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI)
is proud of its new indigenouslydesigned and -built basic trainer.
The company is hoping for an order
from the Turkish Land Forces.

Page 25

Page 33

Page 36

Page 22

VIDEOS on AINtv

Will Chinese seal Hawker
Beechcraft deal?

mid-summer air fair
MARK WAGNER

While trudging through the mud from chalet to
the static display, perhaps you can remember this
overview for some much needed perspective.

Big Bucks Abound
Day two of the 2012 Farnborough International
airshow saw airliner orders flowing more freely, with
deals worth at least $16 billion signed on Tuesday.
Boeing stayed in pole position with almost $11 billion of new business, while Airbus snared one of its
rivals’ existing customers to land a $4.2 billion deal
for the new A350XWB (see page 37). The Russian
Superjet 100 attracted its first Western buyer in a
$175 million contract for five aircraft. Bombardier
was bolstered by another letter of intent calling for
up to 20 of its new CSeries narrowbody (see page 4).

Boeing inks three partnerships
by Chris Pocock
Boeing announced three significant new defense partnerships here
yesterday, although one partner was
not identified. The American group
signed a memorandum of understanding with Elbit Systems to promote the Hermes 450 and 900 UAVs
in the U.S. and some international
countries; it extended collaboration

with Embraer to the A-29 Super
Tucano (see full story, page 38); and
it revealed discussions with the maker
of a super midsize business jet that
would serve as the platform for a
medium-sized maritime surveillance
aircraft (MSA), with mission systems
derived from the P-8 Poseidon, E-3
AWACS and Wedgetail AEW aircraft

(based on the 737 airframe).
Tim Peters, Boeing vice president
surveillance and engagement, said
the company hopes to announce the
selected MSA aircraft by the end of
the year. Boeing’s research indicates
that the maritime surveillance market will be worth more than $10 billion over the next 10 years. Chris
Chadwick, Boeing Military Aircraft
president, told AIN that the company is aiming to provide a lower-cost
option “by removing some bells and

Log onto AINonline.com for the latest coverage from the Farnborough Airshow.

It seemed as though the crews of these three AgustaWestland demonstrators could reach out and hold hands: (left to right) the AW169, due
for certification in 2014; the medium-twin AW139, certified in 2003; and the AW189, due for certification by the end of next year.

Anglo-French UAV studies
not yet confirmed by partners
by Chris Pocock
BAE Systems canceled a briefing here
yesterday on Anglo-French collaboration
for the next generation of UAVs. The company had hoped that ministers from both
countries would be ready to announce joint
funding for further studies of medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAVs and a
future combat air system (FCAS).
In briefings last month, BAE officials expressed guarded optimism that the
deals could be struck. They still hope for
approval of the studies this month. But the
recent change of government in France
has slowed the process, and may even have
confused it. New French defense minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has said that the
German and Italian aerospace industries

might become partners in joint European
UAV development. The British government, on the other hand, is on record as
preferring bilateral cooperation only.
More immediately, Le Drian is due
to announce this week whether France
will stick to a plan to procure the Voltiger MALE system that was outlined by
the previous government. Intended as an
interim solution to an urgent requirement
to support French troops in Afghanistan,
the system was proposed by Dassault and
based on the IAI Heron TP platform.
But no contract was signed, and French
troops are leaving Afghanistan later this
year. Various alternatives have been suggested, including an upgrade to France’s

existing Harfang MALE system based on
the smaller IAI Heron, or even a buy of
Reaper UAVs from the U.S.
The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) already
operates Reaper UAVs in Afghanistan.
These were acquired under an urgent operational requirement (UOR) and are not
funded from the core defense budget. They
are supposed to be withdrawn in 2015 after
most British troops leave Afghanistan.
The RAF has been pleased with the
Reapers in operation, but has raised concerns over the lack of operational sovereignty. However, two recent developments
have allayed some of those concerns. The
RAF Reaper ground station has been
relocated from the U.S. to the UK, and
the U.S. has conceded that non-American
payloads can be integrated on the Predator/Reaper via a new open architecture. If
the UK were to take the Reaper into the
core defense budget and prolong its service life, the case for speedy development
of the proposed Anglo-French Telemos
MALE could be undermined.
o

Sukhoi and Bombardier seal deals
• Interjet, the Mexican-based
Western launch customer for the
Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ100),
has converted its five options
into firm orders (nominally valued at $175 million), bringing its
total acquisition to 20.
Sukhoi is scheduled to
deliver the low-cost operator’s
first SSJ100 to Russo-Italian
marketing company SuperJet
International (SJI) next month
for handover by year-end.
SJI has signed a memorandum of understanding with
Interjet under which its Toluca
facility will be appointed an
authorized service center for
line and base maintenance. The
Interjet SSJ100 fleet is covered
by a 10-year support agreement.

• Latvian carrier Air Baltic
has signed a letter of intent for
10 Bombardier CSeries CS300
twinjets worth $764 million
(at list prices), with purchase
rights for 10 more. Deliveries
are to start in the first quarter
of 2015.
Air Baltic currently has eight
Bombardier Q400s in its fleet,
along with 10 Fokker 50s, 16
Boeing 737-300/500s and two
Boeing 757s.
“The CSeries will be replacing our [older] fleet,” said
Martin Gauss, CEO of Air Baltic, who joined the airline last
year after the departure of Bertholt Flick. “Economy-wise, we
will have big savings,” the former Deutsche BA boss added.

fair farnborough
With all the latest in aeronautical innovations chock-a-block on the ramp,
once again, the Farnborough International airshow becomes the center
of attention for all things with wings. It happens every other year.

Brimstone
may get
its sea legs

MARK WAGNER

by David Donald

Airbus considers long-term daughter-of-Beluga requirements

MBDA reported here yesterday that it has carried out initial studies into creating a naval
version of its successful dualmode Brimstone (DMB) missile,
including firing on a remotecontrolled boat from a Tornado
fighter-bomber. It is now exploring a second application as well:
shipborne DMBs to keep multiple small-boat attackers at bay.
Through successful operations in Afghanistan and Libya
the DMB has become “the [UK]

undertaken against the RIB target, which was maneuvering in
sea state 3 at around 20 knots.
Launching the DMB was a
Tornado GR4 of No. 41 Squadron, the RAF’s operational evaluation unit. The aircraft was
equipped with the standard Litening targeting pod, and the missile was used in its dual-mode
function. In this the Litening is
used to provide laser guidance
for the fly-out, but the missile’s
millimeter-wave (mmW) radar
seeker takes over for the terminal phase. Rather than designate the target for precision
attack, the Litening is used to
“anoint” the target, as Morgan
put it, “so that the missile knows
where it is going. Then the missile switches to mmW to take
out any spot-jitter.”
During the MBDA-funded
and MoD/QinetiQ-supported

Airbus is considering replacing its A300-600ST Super Transporter–dubbed the “Beluga” by virtue of its
whale-like proportions–and expects to consider all possibilities, including development of a follow-on A330/
A340-based design. The Beluga has been used since 1996 to carry major subassemblies between partners’ factories and final-assembly lines.
Programs executive vice president Tom Williams believes that while the five current aircraft offer sufficient
capacity to support current production plans, “in the longer term, in perhaps 2020-24,” there will come a point
when Airbus will require a replacement. “We have a kind of route map of how we will do it. There is no detail,
but there are some contingency plans,” Williams told AIN. “We use the Beluga fleet now predominantly, but we
can offload some [of those payloads] to other modes.”
A recent new Airbus deal with Lufthansa Technik contracts the maintenance organization to provide Beluga
component supplies through 2025. As long ago as 2008 the manufacturer reviewed long-term requirements
ahead of Beluga-replacement evaluations.
Airbus mainly uses dedicated roll-on/roll-off ships to carry A380 subassemblies and also uses maritime container services to feed the Chinese A320 assembly line. The European manufacturer expects to revisit all its
interfactory transport requirements, which currently include movements by road and water.
–I.G.

Piaggio funded to build
two maritime patrollers
by Chad Trautvetter
Piaggio Aero Industries has
launched a new maritime patrol version of the P.180 Avanti
II twin pusherprop. Yesterday at
the Farnborough International airshow, Abu Dhabi Autonomous System Investments (ADASI) signed up to be the launch
customer for the new model,
providing financing for the Italian manufacturer to
build a pair of the
new Piaggio
Aero MPA
prototypes.
First flight is
anticipated in 2014.
An entry-into-service date has not yet
been disclosed, nor
would Piaggio reveal how many
MPAs are on order by the Abu
Dhabi-based firm. It is also
unclear who will be ADASI’s
target market, since the aircraft
ordinarily would be bought by
government agencies.

Saab’s defense and security
division has been tapped as the
MPA’s systems supplier and, in
coordination with Piaggio, is
to develop and integrate a full
suite of airborne sensors
and surveillance systems for various special missions. This

Piaggio has given the go-ahead to a
maritime patrol version of its Avanti II
twin turboprop. First flight of the
aircraft, which will have a larger wing,
is scheduled for 2014.

encompasses land, coastal, maritime and offshore security roles.
However, the MPA’s first application will be dedicated to
maritime patrol, so a high-performance search radar and EO/

IR sensors suite will be the first
special-mission systems integrated into the aircraft.
The company called the
MPA an “evolution” of the
Avanti II platform. It will have
a larger, reinforced wing that
allows for a higher maximum
takeoff weight and additional
fuel capacity. A Piaggio official
told AIN that the MPA would
retain the same Pratt & Whitney
Canada PT6A-66 engines that
power the Avanti II.
According to Piaggio, the
special-mission aircraft
will have an endurance
of more than 10 hours,
a maximum range of 3,300
nm and a ceiling of 41,000 feet.
Top cruise speed is projected to
be 350 knots.
“I’m proud that Piaggio Aero
has been selected by ADASI, the
company that manages many
complex programs for the UAE
armed forces,” said Piaggio
Aero CEO Alberto Galassi.
“The newly designed Piaggio
Aero MPA aircraft will allow
us to diversify our business
profile with the development of
this new state-of-the-art multirole platform.”
o

6 Farnborough Airshow News • July 11, 2012 • www.ainonline.com

The recent dual-mode
Brimstone firing against a
realistic FIAC target is seen
from a barge-mounted camera
and through the Litening
targeting pod of the Tornado
launch aircraft.

RAF’s weapon of choice,” according to MBDA’s Frank Morgan,
who nevertheless posed the question, “How can we expand and
explore the capability of the system, especially its ability to pinpoint very small targets?” One answer lies in its employment on
anti-FIAC (fast inshore attack
craft) operations, which have grown
in significance as the threat of piracy, terrorist actions and asymmetric
naval warfare has increased.
Initial studies suggest that
the most immediate potential
applications for this capability
are fast jets and surface vessels.
Beginning in March this year
MBDA has flown a number of
trials of DMB against a remotecontrolled six-meter RIB (rigid
inflatable boat) target. Initial
flights were seeker data-gathering missions, followed by firing
of telemetry rounds. On June
25 a full live warhead test was

trial the DMB scored a direct hit
on the RIB. “We were very pleased
with the result,” reported Morgan.
“We got detonation very close to
the target.” The vessel stopped
immediately, and sank soon after.
Validation of DMB against
FIAC-type targets answers the
fast-air requirement, but now
MBDA has unveiled a new program for a surface vessel-based
system. Known as Brimstone Sea
Spear (not to be confused with the
newly unveiled Spear air-launched
weapon), the surface system is
intended to equip small vessels for
defending against FIAC swarm
attacks. The weapon would have
only mmW guidance, but would
be capable of being launched in
salvoes to handle multiple threats.
MBDA envisions a weapon
launched from multiple canister racks that could be pedestalmounted on vessels of a minimum
size of 15 meters.
o

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Rolls-Royce announced the Trent 1000-TEN (for Thrust Efficiency New technology), a more fuel-efficient Trent 1000 variant that
leverages some technologies being developed for the company’s XWB engine program.

R-R launches improved Trent 1000
by Chad Trautvetter

Malaysia Signs for Trent
900 TotalCare Package
Malaysia Airlines has signed up
for Rolls-Royce’s TotalCare support
program for the Trent 900 engines on
its fleet of six Airbus A380s. It already
has the customer support arrangement for the Trent 800 turbofans on
its fleet of 17 Boeing 777s.
n

technologies from the XWB.
From the Advance 3, the -TEN
uses the advanced high-pressure
turbine and refined air system,
the latter of which automatically
adjusts the cooling airflow via a
design that uses no moving parts.
Thanks to these advances,
Rolls-Royce maintains that the
Trent 1000-TEN engine will
“ensure the lowest ‘real-life’ fuel
burn for every model of the
Boeing 787 Dreamliner,” as well
as provide “the lowest net fuel
cost and carbon emissions.” The
powerplant will deliver “the same
Trent engine family dependability that our customers have come
to expect,” noted Eric Schultz,
president of Rolls-Royce’s civil
aerospace large engine programs.
To date, there are 10 Trent
1000-powered Boeing 787s in

service that have completed
more than 14,000 hours of operation (more than 4,000 passenger flights) with an engine
dispatch reliability exceeding
99.9 percent. This is the best ever
reliability figure for a widebody
powerplant on entering service,
according to Rolls-Royce.
The Trent 1000 has been
selected in eight of the last nine
787 Dreamliner engine decisions
and now has a total of 24 customers around the world.
o

scimitar city
The eight-blade scimitar props on the Airbus A400 Atlas are perhaps the military transport’s most distinctive feature. Its swept blades are made from woven composite material, the four massive Hamilton Sundstrand propellers
have a strong visual impact. Continuing engine concerns nevertheless meant no A400 displays at the show.

Trent Treatment
Rolls-Royce is making further
performance improvements to its
Trent 700 engine, which powers the
Airbus A330. Technologies from the
Trent 1000, Trent XWB and BR725
engines are being incorporated into
this latest Trent 700 variant, increasing efficiency by at least 1 percent.
The improvement program,
which will also focus on engine service support, is expected to be finalized this year, with enhanced
engines set to enter service in 2015.
Improvements will also be available
for retrofit to the current engine fleet.
The program, announced here
at the Farnborough show, is in addition to enhancements introduced
in 2009 that incorporated Trent
900 and Trent 1000 technology,
delivering a 1-percent reduction in
fuel consumption.–C.T.

8 Farnborough Airshow News • July 11, 2012 • www.ainonline.com

MARK WAGNER

Rolls-Royce unveiled a new,
more efficient 787 engine variant
yesterday at its main Farnborough
press briefing. The Trent 1000TEN (Thrust Efficiency New
technology) leverages new technologies from the in-development XWB engine for the Airbus
A350XWB. The more efficient
Trent 1000-TEN will be rated for
up to 78,000 pounds of thrust,
enabling it to be used as a common powerplant for all Boeing
787 variants, namely the -8, -9
and, if it is launched by the U.S.
aircraft manufacturer, the -10X.
Entry into service for the TEN
engine is slated for the first half
of 2016.
According to Rolls-Royce, the
-TEN will have a 3-percent efficiency gain over the “package B”
Trent 1000s that are now being
delivered to customers. An interim 74,000-pound-thrust “package
C” variant, which will have a more
modest 1-percent efficiency improvement, is scheduled to enter
service in early 2014 to coincide
with initial deliveries of the 787-9.
The Trent 1000-TEN draws
on various concepts developed
for the Trent XWB and Advance
3 demonstrator programs. It borrows the “rising line” intermediate-pressure compressor, highpressure compressor and blisk

After generating $12.7 bil- and Bombardier CSeries.
Reacting sharply to rival
lion in revenue in 2011 and having won the first three launch CFM International’s statement
orders for the Airbus A320neo here at the Farnborough Interre-engined narrowbody, Pratt national airshow this week that
the Leap-1A engine for
&
Whitney
presithe Airbus A320neo will
dent David Hess was
be cheaper to operate
naturally in an upover 15 years compared
beat mood when he
to the PW1100G, Hess
faced reporters at the
said, “Their claim defies
show yesterday.
the laws of physics and
Asked about the
economics…if CFM was
move by P&W and
able to produce the geared
MTU earlier this year
turbofan, they would be
to purchase Rollsmanufacturing it.”
Royce’s share in the
Quizzed about what
International Aero EnDavid Hess
Pratt & Whitney might
gines, he replied, “The
acquisition will simplify our offer by way of powerplant for
global market strategy [to] align the envisioned 777X developwith our partners and…optimize ment, Hess said it will respond
to Boeing’s request for proposal
deals for the A320.”
This week Hess was named with “a geared engine with the
as board chairman of IAE. He same fuel burn as in the narsaid Rolls-Royce remains “an rowbody segment.” Rival Genimportant part” of IAE in sup- eral Electric is developing a new
porting legacy engines, add- GE9X turbofan for the twinjet.
While the decision on the
ing that preparations are under
way to switch the production assembly location for the Airline to focus on the new Pratt bus A320neo engine is await& Whitney geared turbofan ed, it has been decided that
engines for the new narrowbod- MTU will assemble 30 percent
o
ies such as the Mitsubishi MRJ in Europe.
NEELAM MATHEWS

MARK WAGNER

by Neelam Mathews

Superiority: The New Benchmark

Finmeccanica is Aeronautics, Helicopters, Space, Defence
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Airbus expands C295 role as military sales pick up
by David Donald
Having taken just five orders
for new aircraft in 2011, Airbus Military now has 25 sales
already for 2012, and is cautiously optimistic about more
before year end. At the heart of
the turnaround is the light tactical transport family.
While overshadowed in the
glamor stakes by the A400M and
A330 MRTT, the C212, CN235
and C295 continue to be popular choices for transport and surveillance tasks. The recent sale
of five C295 tactical transports
and three C295MPAs to Oman,
plus a CN235 to Cameroon,
highlights the importance of the
family to the manufacturer.
Airbus Military is continuing
to develop the C295, in particular, to meet new requirements.
The aircraft is being improved

in terms of power ratings, aerodynamics, systems and weapon
options. Last year Airbus Military and engine maker Pratt
& Whitney began a study to
allow the C295’s PW127 turboprops to be operated at higher
ratings. The new ratings, which
will be certified in the next few
months, allow TOGA (takeoff, go-around) power to be
extended into the climb regime,
and for maximum climb power
to be extended into initial cruise.
The rewriting of the aircraft
flight manuals has been mainly
introduced to improve hot-andhigh performance and will have
the effect of increasing available
payload at higher altitudes, as
well as slightly reducing overall
fuel consumption.
Airbus Military has also

designed wingtip extensions for
the C295, which have been tested
in the wind tunnel and are due to
start flight tests at the end of this
year. The upturned winglets will
improve lift-to-drag ratio and
add to ceiling/payload/endurance performance for a weight
penalty of around 220 pounds.
Winglets on AEW Version

Winglets have been tested
on a tunnel model in airborne
early-warning
configuration,
and this special-mission version
could benefit from performance
increases. The C295AEW first
flew on June 7 last year, and
completed initial flight tests by
the end of July. Radar and mission system development continues, with Elta providing the
radar, and a number of air forces

are interested in this low-cost
AEW solution. Airbus Military
reports “preliminary discussions
with three countries.”
Another mission to which the
C295 is well-suited is maritime
patrol, and Airbus Military sees
a healthy market for the C295
in this domain. To that end it is
currently integrating the MBDA
Marte Mk 2 missile to give the
aircraft an anti-ship capability.
The C295MPA has three hardpoints under each wing (rated
for loads of approximately
1,764, 1,100 and 660 pounds)
and can already drop the Mk
46 torpedo in the anti-submarine role. Captive-carry trials
with the Marte are due to begin
this month, with separation trials due for September and firing
trials set for October/November.

A C295MPA delivers a Mk 46 anti-submarine torpedo.
Airbus Military is now integrating the Marte Mk 2
missile to provide an anti-ship capability.

A third generation of FITS
(fully integrated tactical system) has been developed for the
C295, and the maritime aircraft
for Oman will be the first to have
this new system. The new FITS
uses extensive COTS elements
and is more user-friendly than
earlier versions. It is also netcentric-ready, and Airbus Military
has been working closely with
Spain’s Guardia Civil to prove
this capability.
Other improvements in the
works are an option for a headup display and enhanced vision
system, giving an infrared picture for improved safety at night
and in bad weather. This is due
to enter flight test in the middle of next year. Ready for test
later this year is an OBIGGS
(onboard inert gas generating
system) that reduces vulnerability in hostile tactical situations.
In May this year Airbus Military delivered a C295 to the
Ghana air force. This aircraft
was significant for being the first
built to a more flexible and costeffective system known as BRG
(basic reference groups). In this
process the subassemblies are
fitted with as many systems as
possible, with the result that
final assembly time is reduced
with significant cost savings.
Future Versions

With Elta radar the C295AEW offers an attractive low-cost AEW
capability. Flight characteristics were validated this time last year.

India’s Axis eyes
European acquisition
by Neelam Mathews
As Indian companies strive
to ascend the aerospace engineering value chain, they have
big ambitions to build partnerships and tap defense offsets at
various stages of product development. These include design,
analysis, optimization and validation, virtual prototyping and
testing, digital manufacturing,
product data management and
technical publications.
Backed by a $1.2 billion
fund, Axis Aerospace Technologies (AAT) wants to make an
acquisition in Europe related
to engineering design services.
“The company we are looking
at must have a good customer
base,” vice chairman Sudhakar
Gande told AIN.
The mid-sized acquisition is
expected to be in the range of

$10- to $25 million. Gearing up
for the barrage of defense offsets to come, AAT’s desired
takeover target will cover project
lifecycle management. “We will
[also] strengthen our capabilities
through acquisitions in embedded systems and other areas,”
Gande added.
AAT (Hall 4 Stand F5) has
increased its revenues at around
50 percent year-on-year for the
last three years, and it expects to
grow at a similar pace in 2012.
With revenues of $55 million last
year, the company employs 1,500
engineers who service more than
70 customers and delivery centers handled by sales offices in 12
locations worldwide.
Last year, Airbus chose Axis
subsidiary Cades as its offshore
development center (ODC) for

fuselage design. Work packages for the European airframer
include concessions (handling
manufacturing and a­
ssembly
deviations), product design,
modification and weight reduction on aerostructures, service
repair manual and life extension
tasks for in-service aircraft on the
A380, A350XWB, A330, A340,
A320 and A400M platforms.
AAT expects to get AP1020
authorized signatory status for
design changes from Airbus by
the end of the year. “This will
enable us to win even more complex design work packages,”
explained Gande. “It will be continuous business as we become
part of their supply chain. This
will also enable us to sign concessions on their behalf.”
Last year, AAT signed a
cooperation agreement with
Germany’s Premium Aerotech
for ODC aerostructures engineering services. The Indian
firm mainly works on composite primary structures for fuselages, as well as providing design
support and stress and fatigue

10 Farnborough Airshow News • July 11, 2012 • www.ainonline.com

analysis for Premium, which is
a major supplier to Airbus and
other airframers.
Major AAT clients include
Bombardier, DCNS, Thales and
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., as
well as India’s defense ministry
and defense research & development organization labs. AAT
also has ambitions in electronic
warfare and recently developed
EW systems for classroom training for the Indian military.
The company is currently
working for Dassault on Mirage
upgrades. “Defense offsets will
be a significant part of our
long-term growth plans. However, winning defense offsets
involves very long sales cycle
times,” said Gande.
AAT interests in aerospace
life cycle support extend to the
Devanhalli Aerospace Park in
Bangalore, where the company
has been acquiring governmentowned land. It plans to use this
to develop a facility for manufacturing aerospace components, as well as for training and
maintenance.
o

With the MPA version in service and the airborne early-warning version in the middle of a
four-year development, Airbus
is looking at further special missions for the C295. A multi-intelligence ground surveillance/Sigint
version is being offered, with a
variety of sensor options such as
SAR/GMTI radar, EO/IR sensors and ESM/Elint antennas. Up
to eight onboard operator consoles could be accommodated,
based on the FITS developed for
the MPA aircraft.
Another option is a gunship version. Airbus Military
and ATK have developed a
gunship version of the smaller
CN235 for the Royal Jordanian
Air Force, and two aircraft are
undergoing conversion. A similar capability could be applied
to the C295, perhaps as a palletized “roll-on, roll-off” option.
A palletized spraying system
has already been designed for dispersing oil spills and other pollutants, and Oman is taking this as
part of its eight-aircraft purchase.
A natural development would be
a fire-fighting kit, and this is being
proposed by Airbus Military. o

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Improvements
to B747-8
yield results
by Gregory Polek
Lukewarm market reception and performance deficiencies that continue to fall
short of the new 747-8’s original design
specifications might have elicited a fair
share of skepticism from various industry quarters, but they haven’t deterred
Boeing from declaring that “prospects
look quite good” for the stretched, reengined and re-winged jumbo jet, now in
passenger operation with Lufthansa Airlines and five cargo customers.
In fact, last month, 747 program vice
president and chief project engineer
Bruce Dickinson told reporters at a briefing at the company’s widebody factory in
Everett, Washington, that the cargo airplane’s “real-world” fuel efficiency has
proved 1 percent better than forecast estimates for this point in time, as engineers
work toward meeting all performance
guarantees in 2014.
“We’re not done; we’re never done,”
said Dickinson. “Continuous improvements are all about what we’re doing…
The improvements in aerodynamics and
weights continue, they’re identified…”
A performance improvement package (PIP) for the airplane’s new General Electric GEnx-2B turbofans would
account for most of the original 3-percent
improvement needed to meet Boeing’s
original promises. The PIP, including a
new low-pressure turbine design, redesigned high-pressure compressor airfoils,
as well as an “upgraded” combustor and
improved high-pressure turbine aerodynamics, would gain certification in the
second quarter of 2013, according to
GE’s schedules.
Flight Management Upgrades

Although not considered a major
contributor to the airplane’s fuel-efficiency shortfall, the airplane’s flight
management computer (FMC) from
Honeywell had assumed a high priority for Boeing and its customers well before its entry into service with Cargolux
last October. In fact, during last year’s
pre-Paris Air Show briefings in Everett,

Boeing has delivered 11 airplanes so far this year and is building two 747-8s a month at its factory in Everett, Washington.

program head Elizabeth Lund revealed range from roughly 7,650 to 8,000 nm. The
that the FMC hadn’t performed up to 747-8 Freighter does not use the tanks.
Although Lufthansa doesn’t yet need
expectations. Although Lund said it
could do all that the prior FMC could all the extra range the tail tanks would
do in the 747-400, it took close to anoth- deliver, the absence of fuel in the tail of
er year before Boeing finally “rolled in” the airplane does actually produce some
some improvements and new features fuel-burn penalty because the condition
changes the airplane’s cenabout two months ago.
ter of gravity. Once it cer“Our third block point
tifies the tanks, it will, in
will include some capabilifact, regain the resulting
ties around required navigalost fuel efficiency. “We’re
tional performance (RNP),
still working on all the
and that allows for just a litdetails of what the solutle more efficient approachtion will be,” said Dickines, a little more opportunity
son, “but we’ve got it just
for operational advantagabout finished.”
es,” said Dickinson.
Boeing plans to fit a
Finally, Boeing continsingle instrumented flight
ues work toward a soft- Boeing 747 program vice
test airplane with the PIP,
ware solution to certify tail president and chief project
the FMC improvements
fuel tanks meant to hold engineer Bruce Dickinson
and the tail tank reactivaanother 3,300 gallons of cited 2014 as the year the
tion for simultaneous cerjet-A in the Intercontinen- 747-8 will meet all its original
performance specifications.
tification by the end of
tal. Computer simulation
testing showed that the airplane would next year, said Dickinson. The engine
experience some minor structural flutter PIP alone should bring performance
in the event of a failure of the R3 under- to within 1 percent of specification,
wing, mid-spar strut-to-wing fitting, one while aerodynamic upgrades and weight
of six connecting the outboard engines reductions account for much of the balto the wing, when the tanks held more ance. “We don’t have very far to go,” said
than 15 percent of their capacity. As a Dickinson. “And we’re confident we’ll
result, Boeing had to decommission the hit it because we have completely audited
fuel tanks to gain certification of the through all of our experts the numbers
for the improvements that are coming.”
variant last December.
Designed to operate 15 percent
The tanks raise the 747-8’s total fuel
capacity to 64,055 gallons, extending its more efficiently than its GE-powered
The first 747-8 passenger airliner takes off from Frankfurt on its maiden revenue flight on June 1.

12 Farnborough Airshow News • July 11, 2012 • www.ainonline.com

predecessor, the 747-400, the 747-8 relies
largely on a new supercritical wing for its
performance benefits. The engine, meanwhile, represents fifth-generation technology and resists deterioration over time
far better than its precursors, translating
into better midlife performance and less
cost for customers, said Dickinson.
Two Deliveries
Per Month

As if mid-June twenty 747-8s had
entered service–specifically, 16 freighters,
three VIP airplanes and a single Intercontinental. Boeing had delivered 11
airplanes this year, and the first at a twoper-month rate since it announced an
increase in production output from 1.5.
Boeing’s most recent corporate guidance specifies planned delivery of
between 70 and 85 Dreamliners and 7478s combined, split roughly evenly, suggesting a total of between 35 and 43 this
year for each. Although some 747-8s
scheduled for delivery remain in change
incorporation in San Antonio, Texas,
Boeing has already sent “a number of
airplanes straight through the factory,”
said Dickinson.
Meanwhile, the OEM has watched
market interest gravitate toward the passenger model as cargo markets continue
to experience weakness, according to
Dickinson. Now holding firm orders for
106 airplanes, Boeing still counts among
its list of customers only three passenger airlines, accounting for 27 airplanes.
However, a deal with Air China for five
awaits government approval, while Russia’s Transaero has yet to convert a memorandum of understanding for four and
an unnamed airline’s commitment for 15
remains off the books.
“Part of it is, a number of airlines wait
until the airplane gets out there,” said Dickinson. “So a lot of people are watching.” o

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BAE’s BLAST imagery
turns murky into clear
Of 130 U.S. rotorcraft lost
in combat zones to non-hostile
reasons between 2002 and 2008
around half were attributed to
DVE (degraded visual environments), CFIT (controlled flight
into terrain) and wire/obstacle
strikes. These losses accounted
for 49 percent of the 189 fatalities. Such compelling figures
underline the importance of
the efforts being undertaken
to tackle DVE issues and to

Using 94-GHz millimeter-wave seeking
technology, BLAST can depict a landing
zone (top) in the symbology of a helmetmounted display (bottom).

enhance situational awareness
to reduce CFIT and strikes.
BAE Systems is developing a system known as BLAST
(brownout landing-aid system
technology) that uses 94-GHz
millimeter-wave technology to
see objects through a range of
DVE conditions, such as sand,
dust, fog, rain and snow. Adapted
from the MBDA seeker developed for the Brimstone missile,
BLAST’s Sandstone seeker provides terrain and obstacle imagery into head-down, head-up

and helmet-mounted displays.
Displays have been adapted to
use standard U.S. Army BOSS
and the UK’s LVL symbology.
BLAST imagery can be fused
with DTED (digital terrain elevation database) information to
provide a dynamic synthetic display of the landing zone. Millimeter-wave imagery could also be
fused with infrared imagery for
even greater situational awareness enhancement, something
that BAE Systems is working
on. As well as generating landing zone imagery, BLAST can
be used during en route transit,
detecting and warning of obstacles and wires that are uncrated
in the DTED database. Compared to other millimeter-wave
DVE systems, BLAST offers the
ability to be easily directed, so
that it can look into turns.
BLAST and its Sandstone
sensor was first tested at Yuma
from a tower, before flying in a
Bell UH-1 Huey in 2009. During
2010 the system received maturity
updates and was tested aboard a
Sikorsky CH-53 of the Marine
Corps. Further improvements
were tested last year, and trials
continue in 2012. An important
feature of BLAST is its ability to
track other helicopters, and a test
has already been run with a second helicopter involved. Another
capability that has been demonstrated is the ability to see people
on the landing zone.
U.S. tests are continuing with
a UH-60 Black Hawk, but BAE
Systems is also gearing up for a
demonstration/trials campaign
for the French special forces.
The sensor is to be mounted
on a Puma helicopter with trials scheduled to begin either late
this year or early in 2013.
o

MARK WAGNER

by David Donald

hail Colombia
Fresh from its appearance at the Royal International Air Tattoo, is this C-130H Hercules, which is based in Bogota,
Colombia. The Colombian air force operates a fleet of eight C-130s–a mix of B and H models–in personnel-transport and cargo roles, as well as flying humanitarian missions and medical evacuations.

Saab plans training base
for African Gripen pilots
Saab is to establish an
advanced training center for
Gripen pilots at Overberg air
force base in South Africa, the
Swedish company announced
this week. The center will act as
a fighter weapons school and
will specialize in honing the
skills of experienced pilots. The
first course will take place late
next year, and the syllabus will
focus on advanced multi-role

Overberg Air Force Base in South
Africa will be home to a fighter
weapons school for Saab pilots.

GKN’s wing-design center now open
UK-based GKN Aerospace
has opened a new engineering
and technology center at its site
at Filton, near Bristol, as part of
an ongoing program to add to
its global engineering capability.
The center, GKN’s fourth, will
focus on future wing structure
design and manufacture.
“Bristol is now established
as the heart of our global wing
structures manufacturing activity,” said technical director Rich

Oldfield. “With the National
Composites Center close by
and strong links into local academic research programs, this is
the ideal base for developing our
engineering capability.”
With more than 50 permanent staff in place at the Filton
center already, eventually more
than 100 engineers are expected
to be based at the site, providing integrated design and build
capability, said the company.

aspects of Gripen operations.
AFB Overberg’s location
provides access to extensive
airspace with varying terrain.
The courses will be run in the
South African summer, providing excellent meteorological
conditions at a time when such
advanced training would be difficult to undertake in the Northern Hemisphere. Mixed in with
advanced operational flying

exercises and academic instruction will be survival training in
the African environment.
The establishment of the
fighter weapons school is
being overseen by the Gripen
User Group, which includes
all current Gripen-operating
nations. Under the auspices of
the group, a number of “Lion
Effort” joint exercises have been
undertaken, the most recent of
which was held at Ronneby in
Sweden earlier this year. Gripen
aircraft from Sweden, Czech
Republic, Hungary and South
Africa took part, while Thailand sent observers.–D.D.

The Filton center will integrate with the company’s other
established engineering centers
on the Isle of Wight in the UK
and in St. Louis, Missouri, and
Garden Grove and Santa Ana,
California, as a single global
engineering force to support
more than 25 GKN Aerospace
manufacturing centers worldwide. Each site will concentrate
on a defined area of expertise
in product design and analysis

14 Farnborough Airshow News • July 11, 2012 • www.ainonline.com

and advance new manufacturing technologies and techniques,
while drawing on the experience
of the whole force.
Futures Day

GKN Aerospace is a silver
sponsor of the Farnborough
International show’s Futures
Day on Friday and also for the
Innovation Zone. On Futures
Day, two young GKN engineers, Laura Cundy and Karen
Murphy, will talk to an audience
of young people from around
the country about “Making
Things Fly.”

“Futures Day is an important
opportunity for us to reach out
to young people already interested in aviation but who may
not have considered engineering as a career. As a country, we
have a real shortage of engineers
with the vital skills our manufacturing industrial base will need
for the future prosperity of the
country,” said Oldfield.
GKN Aerospace operates in
three main product areas: aerostructures, engine components/
subsystems and special products.
It recorded sales of £1.5 billion
($2.3 billion) in 2011.–N.M.

by Chris Pocock
While the C-17 program has
long been a leader in performance-based logistics (PBL),
for many defense contractors
PBL still represents a “paradigm shift” that they have yet to
understand, let alone implement.
For the C-17, PBL dates from
1998, when the U.S. Air Force
first signed up for what is now
known as the Globemaster III
integrated sustainment program
(GISP). All seven international
customers for the C-17 have since
joined the innovative scheme.
“We have provided tailored
support solutions, maintaining
the highest level of aircraft readiness,” said Gus Urzua, Boeing’s
vice president and general manager, C-17 GISP. “There’s no
other weapon system in the U.S.
inventory that has reduced the
flight-hour cost as we have–and
while improving performance,”
he claimed. The C-17 fleet has
enjoyed an 86-percent missioncapable rate in recent years,
while flight hours costs dropped
by 29 percent from fiscal year
2004 to 2011. “We measure
monthly against 11 performance
metrics. Boeing has exceeded
every one by huge amounts,”
said Lt. Col. Jeff Hayden, C-17
chief of program integration for
the U.S. Air Force.
In the GISP, Boeing provides
guaranteed availability to the
USAF and is paid by the flight
hour. Most of the contract is firm
fixed-price, although there is some
target-cost-incentive fee pricing.
There is an annual renegotiation.
The international customers
have bought into the USAF’s
GISP contract, but not via traditional foreign military sales
procedures. The customers specify the level of availability that

they require, the number of
hours they expect to fly, and
their types of missions and concepts of operation. This affects
the pricing–for instance, some
operators fly their engines
harder than others.
Therefore, there are various annexes to the agreement.
One of them provides Boeing
personnel for flightline maintenance of the three NATO
strategic airlift capability (SAC)
aircraft at their home base in
Papa, Hungary. The operators
of all the other C-17s retain
this task: the USAF (216 aircraft, with seven to come), Australia (five, with one to come),
Canada (four), Qatar (two), the
UAE (six) and the UK (eight).
India is joining the GISP next
year, when the first of its 10
C-17s is due for delivery. The
GISP has sustained a doubling
of the airlift workload every
year since 2006.
Interestingly, as the sole
source provider of C-17 support, Boeing subcontracts the
main USAF C-17 depot at Warner-Robins U.S. Air Force Base
in Georgia where about 14 C-17s
are undergoing work at any one
time. About the same number
can be found at Boeing’s own
large maintenance facility at San
Antonio, Texas, at any one time.
The workforce at Warner-Robins will carry out more than one
million hours of work on C-17s
in Fiscal Year 2012.

methods of support in which
suppliers bill the customer for
new or overhauled parts, and the
PBL approach. “Every time I
saw a part coming into the shop,
I saw revenue. Now I see cost,”
Urzua explained. Hayden noted
that Boeing has the responsibility to incentivize the suppliers. “It’s a win-win situation,” he
said. “The USAF is buying an
outcome; they give up some control,” Urzua noted.
Urzua also said Boeing has
spent about $100 million on IT
support for the GISP: modeling
and forecasting tools, asset visibility, supply chain management
and “military airplane health
management.” An accrualsbased accounting system is used.
Boeing has some 300 staff
deployed to the 19 locations
where C-17s are based. They
have also worked in the field
to recover damaged aircraft,
including those involved in four
serious mishaps in Afghanistan: a Taliban shoulder-fired
SAM damaged the engine of

Customer Oversight

The foreign buyers of the C-17
enjoy access to “a virtual fleet,”
with all the attendant economies
of scale. “Of course, the USAF is
the biggest partner and we must
trust that our voice is heard,” he
noted. But each foreign customer
has staff located within the program office, “not on the other side
of the runway as is usual in the
FMS acquisition model,” Burke
added. This provides unprecedented oversight and accountability, he said. All aircraft are built
and upgraded to a common standard; the fleet is currently being

modified to the Block 17 standard, which then requires only a
software upgrade to reach the current production Block 18 configuration. The virtual-fleet concept
has allowed the foreign buyers to
achieve “50 to 80 percent savings”
on management support costs,
Burke claimed.
Hayden noted that customers for a PBL contract should
take care when specifying the
standards that their contractor
should meet. For instance, the
GISP contract with Boeing calls
for only 69 percent availability. “I
could mandate 85 percent but I
don’t need it,” he said. The limiting factors include downtime for
modifications and the availability
of trained crews. The aircraft is
capable of flying 1,400 hours per
annum and crews are definitely
the limiting factor, Burke agreed.
According to Hayden, in 2009
the USAF evaluated whether or
not to take C-17 support back
to traditional methods. “But
the savings achieved by the PBL
model amounted to $400 million
over five years and $12.8 billion
over the expected 30-year life of
the program,” he said.
A new 10-year deal for the
GISP was therefore negotiated
from Fiscal Year 2011. However, the USAF intends to cut
a direct contract with Pratt &
Whitney for F117 engine overhauls from 2014. Urzua admitted that the engines account for
50 percent of the GISP contract
and the USAF “will save on our
‘pass-through’ costs.” The product support management role
will also return to the USAF,
with a combined Boeing-USAF
program office to be established
at Warner-Robins.
o

DAVID McINTOSH

C-17 sustainment plan
has worked wonders

CHRIS POCOCK

Boeing has delivered 216 of a planned 223 C-17s to the U.S. Air
Force. The company is responsible for all except frontline support
of the fleet via an innovative performance-based logistics program.

one aircraft; the nose landing
gear of another collapsed when
it veered off a runway; a third
made a wheels-up landing after
the crew forgot to extend the
landing gear. In the most recent
accident, at forward operating
base Shank last January, serious
damage was sustained when an
aircraft overran the runway.
Trevor Burke, the C-17 technical manager for the NATO
Airlift Management Agency,
provided an international perspective on the GISP. He admitted that international customers
are inevitably tempted to mandate the development of local
support, including heavy maintenance, to boost their domestic
industrial base.
But in the C-17 case, this
“competing agenda” was outweighed by the capabilities and
cost savings that were on offer
via the GISP. All C-17s go to
San Antonio or Warner-Robins for upgrades and a corrosion check and repaint every five
years. But the two-year inspections are done at the home bases.

‘Everybody in the Pool’

The five USAF commands
and the international customers share a common spare-parts
pool. Urzua provided an interesting comparison between
the traditional, transactional

going green
Maybe it’s aviation’s pervasive sense of efficiency, but there appears to be a common tone among many exhibitors’ booths: green. Asco Industries is a designer and manufacturer of high-lift structures and mechanical
assemblies. Someone at the company also knows how to design an attractive hall stand.

www.ainonline.com • July 11, 2012 • Farnborough Airshow News 15

Singapore Airshow aims to set record
by Thierry Dubois
reached almost 45,000. The
2012 show set a record for the
largest-ever number of top-level
delegations, with 266 from more
than 80 countries. There were
around 900 exhibitors.
Early bookings for 2014 are
said to be well under way. “Over
75 percent of exhibitors have
already reaffirmed their commitment,” said Lim. An “aviation training and simulation
zone” will be introduced, as
a testament to the industry’s
growing importance. An analysis by business information specialist Visiongain estimates the
sector’s revenues to $3.2 billion
this year.
Simultaneously, an “aviation

MicroPilot UAV system
shows ‘smaller is better’
by Richard Gardner
When it introduced its
first miniature autopilot for
unmanned air vehicle use in 1994,
MicroPilot (Hall 4 Stand C18d)
was hardly prepared for the subsequent explosion in demand
for ever-smaller UAV platforms.
Today, the Manitoba, Canadabased company has more than
750 customers in 65 countries
and manufactures the world’s
smallest autopilots and associated software, as well as accessories and customized UAV training
and integration services.
The autopilot devices are so
small they fit in the palm of a
hand and weigh only 28 grams
(one ounce). They have GPS
waypoint navigation with altitude and airspeed hold, and
are completely independent
in operation, meaning that
the UAV can take off autonomously or can be used with bungee or hand launch.
Single Circuit Board

The autopilot has an open
architecture and is fully integrated with three-axis gyros and
accelerometers, and these and
the GPS, pressure altimeter and
pressure airspeed sensors are all
on a single circuit board. The system, despite its size, has extensive
data logging and telemetry capabilities. A UAV configuration
wizard and installation video
simplifies the set-up process.
The company’s Horizon
ground-control software provides

a user-friendly point-and-click
interface for mission planning,
parameter adjustment, flight
monitoring and mission simulation. It runs on a Windows
computer or laptop and has
video support, giving the user access to critical information
in real time. Up to eight userdefined sensors can be configured and displayed in three different formats.
MicroPilot is now bundling
together its airside and groundside UAV system components into a comprehensive UAV autopilot package, MO2128LRC. The
“LRC” stands for long-range
communications and refers to
the system’s most significant
benefit, an integrated, redundant, long-range data communications link allowing greater
operating range and flexibility
(taking range out to 11 nm from
the ground operator).
Using standard off-theshelf modems, it adds radiocontrol information to the existing ground- control system
data link and a second, redundant data link, reducing possible failure modes. In the event
of both an autopilot and communications failure, a failsafe
“watchdog” timer activates
a parachute.
As many customers in the
agricultural, energy supply and
resource management sectors
can testify, automated UAV
systems can provide a reliable,

security zone” will appear.
The sector’s revenues are estimated at $22.3 billion this year.
The “unmanned systems zone,”
which debuted in 2012, will make
a return in 2014, and will feature
a new demonstration area.
Streamlining Security

Lim promised that the organizing team would strive to offer
a “more streamlined experience”
in terms of show security constraints. Exhibitors have expressed
dissatisfaction to AIN about the
requirement for companies to
leave the site during the busiest
part of the show set-up, something that doesn’t h
­ appen at other
major international airshows.
robust and low-cost alternative
to helicopters and light aircraft
when aerial surveys and checks
need to be carried out. The type
of UAV used can be fixed-wing
or a mini-rotary-wing device.
The operator simply launches
the UAV, which is small enough
to be carried to the site in an
automobile or pick-up truck. It
will then embark on the preprogrammed flight pattern, sending back sensor images and/
or data, with full facilities for
recording and archiving, for
easy recall, before returning to
the takeoff point.
This can be achieved autonomously from takeoff, though
the operator can intervene to
change the flight pattern if need
be. It is a simple concept that has
become a popular reality and
can be acquired through MicroPilot subsidiary CropCam. o

EADS unit
offers speedy
prototyping
EADS Innovation Works
is here at the show with an
unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
that was built using a rapid-prototyping method known as additive
layer manufacturing (ALM), or
3-D printing. EADS is exhibiting
it to demonstrate the possibilities
ALM offers. The plastic-material
drone here can’t fly, but EADS
plans to manufacture a metal one
that will be able to fly.
Four students from the University of Leeds designed the
aircraft and using ALM technology, they were able to optimize
its structural and aerodynamic

Angelica Lim

billion last year. Growth is continuing, notably thanks to the
development of the Seletar
Aerospace Park. Moreover, the
Asia Pacific region’s commercial
fleet is expected to grow at an
average annual rate of 5.3 percent until 2019.
o
characteristics, such as wing twist.
“This would otherwise be difficult
and expensive to realize for an aircraft of this scale,” according to
EADS. In addition, several different, detachable pairs of wings can
be designed to adapt the aircraft
for different missions. A new wing
can be “printed” relatively quickly.
The metallic version will be
manufactured at EADS’ Filton,
UK ALM facility. More precisely, EADS will use the direct
metal laser sintering technique.
The idea is to “grow” the part
from a fine powder of metal
(this is also true for nylon and
carbon-reinforced plastics). A
high-power laser is directed at
the material powder, melting it
into solid shape. This is done
repetitively, layer by layer. Compared to a machined part, an
ALM part typically can be 65
percent lighter.–T.D.

DAVID McINTOSH

Singapore Airshow organizers believe they can set new
attendance records at the next
running of the event, Feb. 11-16,
2014, at the Changi Exhibition Center. Angelica Lim, general manager of Experia Events’
aerospace and defense group,
told AIN about some planned
changes, including new themed
areas for simulation and security.
The records Experia is hoping to break are those for “the
number of trade visitors, highlevel delegations, static and flying aircraft, [number of] chalets
and the overall space taken up,”
said Lim. At this year’s event,
held in February, visitor numbers over the four trade days

Despite this complaint, a
post-show survey indicated
overall customer satisfaction. It
ranked Singapore airshow as the
most important aerospace and
defense show after the Paris Air
Show. According to Lim, 87 percent of the exhibitors had “their
objectives met.”
In terms of nationalities,
show organizers hope for “enhanced Chinese presence” in
2014. They are also hoping for
“more robust participation from
India, Japan, Korea and our
neighboring countries,” and “a
stronger European presence.”
Lim is confident that Singapore is the right place for a show
in the region. The rival Asian
Aerospace 2013 show in Hong
Kong has been cancelled, which
suggests that she is right.
Singapore’s total aerospace
sector output hit a record $6.2

functionally fine art
There are some stands here at Farnborough that might not look out of place among the art galleries of London’s
Mayfair district. Finely tuned machinery can be as pleasing to the touch as fine art, sometimes even more so.

16 Farnborough Airshow News • July 11, 2012 • www.ainonline.com

Runway overruns top Airbus R&D list
by Ian Goold
The emergence of “new competitors in very powerful places
around the world” has led Airbus to pursue new technologies
as a way to differentiate itself,
said strategy and future-programs executive vice president
Christian Scherer. For instance,
despite the tough economic
times, the European airframer is
investing $2.5 billion in environmental research-and-development work this year alone.
Contributing to this up-front
spending is the saving Airbus has
made by launching the A320neo,
which has “bought a lot of time
and money to research properly, instead of running around
like a headless chicken,” said
Scherer. This would provide an
­opportunity for Airbus to distance itself from what he characterized as new-generation
“wannabes” that have made
“the major mistake of bringing
nothing new to the party.” The
A320neo move could save perhaps $9 billion in short-term
expenditure, while keeping A320
operating costs a step ahead of
aspiring market entrants.
Current technologies in which
Airbus is engaged include biofuels, composite materials, sharklet
wingtips and bionic structures.
Scherer also identified a range of
solutions with potential: materials
management, upgrades, airport
operations, connectivity, training
and air-traffic management.

and that the next Airbus aircraft would have “a very different cockpit.” Part of the future
would be the emergence of “rupture” technologies that would
set new standards, Scherer said,

adding that he expects Airbus to
bring a new standard of cockpit
commonality to the market.
Future aircraft configurations
could include high rear-mounted
engines driving contrarotating

open rotors, according to
research and technology senior
vice president Axel Krein. Airbus is working with engine
manufacturers Rolls-Royce and
Safran. They have tested a windtunnel model and could operate A340 test-bed flights during
2014-16, ahead of a possible
A320-replacement launch before
2020, said Krein. Airbus is also

considering fuel cells to replace
auxiliary power units and ramair turbines as supplementary
or replacement power sources.
“It would be irresponsible not
to fly [such technology] in the next
five years,” Scherer said. “[Openrotor technology] is the numberone chance to reduce fuel burn
until there is propulsion more
efficient than the propeller.” o

Incubating Ideas

Airbus has established a business development “nursery” to
incubate ideas that can be harvested as future businesses, of
which just one example is the
manufacturer’s runway-overrun
prevention system (ROPS). This
would contribute to reduced
aviation insurance claims, since
“landing excursions are the
number one source of claims.”
The manufacturer said ROPS
options for all aircraft models
are “nearly certified.”
Another example of Airbus
innovation is the Elise system
of advanced instrument-landing simulation that could indicate electromagnetic or other
signal disturbance generated by
buildings or temporary structures. Elise could “almost calibrate” the potential interference
from objects and therefore might
be able to permit, say, building
development nearer to runways.
Scherer said he could imagine
the evolution of pilots from “drivers to machine-tool manager,”

GOOD
FLYING!
PILATUS WISHES YOU
AN EXCELLENT AIR SHOW!
Come and visit us at the Static Display
www.pilatus-aircraft.com

www.ainonline.com • July 11, 2012 • Farnborough Airshow News 17

Boeing looks to ease
sole-supplier threats
by Gregory Polek
Boeing’s well-documented de­­
velopment struggles with the
new 787 Dreamliner raised
questions over the wisdom of its
plan to reduce the number of its
suppliers and to place more responsibility with them for design and management of their
own ­supply chains.
However, at the time, the
industry’s supplier base had
become “thicker,” meaning it
had added more layers, resulting in more specialization and
incentive for OEMs such as
Boeing to lean more heavily on
their Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers to conduct their own supply
management functions.
But now, Boeing has established a goal of spreading
risk within its supply chain by
actively seeking more than one
source for given components
across its commercial airplane
line, raising new questions about
whether it has reconsidered the
philosophy it adopted more
than a decade ago.
“Where we see a commercial
threat associated with sole-source
suppliers, we are looking hard
at what we should do to address
that,” said BCA vice president
and general manager for supplier management Kent Fisher.
“There’s a spectrum of places

where I feel like, commercially,
I’m being taken advantage of
from a sole-source perspective.”
Qualifying Suppliers

Fisher wouldn’t identify
any of the companies in question, but he stressed that several opportunities exist to use
two sources, ranging from Tier
1 down to Tier 4 suppliers, for
both new and existing programs.
“We have to qualify suppliers at
the lower levels to let our Tier 1s
and [Tier] 2s use them, and we’ll
look at qualifying additional
suppliers for certain things,”
said Fisher. However, that does
not necessarily reflect a retreat
from Boeing’s move to minimize its supplier base and place
more supply-chain management
responsibility on its Tier 1 and
Tier 2 partners, he insisted.
“The dual sourcing is about
business continuity and getting
better commercial terms where
we can,” said Fisher. “There
are certainly suppliers that have
taken advantage of a unique
position in the supply chain and
used it, I think, to earn unreasonable profits.”
Meanwhile, Boeing’s production rate increases across
its product line has driven
what Fisher characterized as

Cytec demonstrates new
resin infusion process
Composite material specialist Cytec Engineered Products
(Chalet C4-5) has two factory
expansion projects under way.
The company is also here at
the Farnborough International
Airshow discussing a new process
that combines low-cost manufacturing and the ability to produce
primary structure components.
The first project is the restart
of a plan to expand carbon
fiber manufacturing at its Piedmont, South Carolina f­acility.
The expansion will double
Cytec’s capacity for polyacrylonitrile-based (PAN-based) carbon fiber production.
U.S.-based Cytec uses these
fibers in the manufacture of
pre-impregnated materials (prepregs). Construction is expected
to be completed by the end of
2013, with commercial fiber

production anticipated for 2014.
Meanwhile, in Greenville,
Texas, Cytec is expanding its
factory and associated infrastructure. This will support a
new impregnation line, which
will increase the site’s carbon
fiber-reinforced prepreg capacity by 20 percent. Commercial
production in the new facility is
expected to begin in 2015.
Both projects support “growing demand for Cytec’s composite materials products in the
aerospace industry,” the firm
said. Cytec’s workforce, now at
2,000, is thus growing. James
Pigford, director of program
management, told AIN the
Boeing 787’s production start
has been a favorable factor.
Cytec is also busy developing
more straightforward composite
manufacturing techniques. For

Sprit Aerosystems rolls out a 737 fuselage from its Wichita plant following an April
tornado that halted operations for more than a week. A sole-source supplier, Spirit
earned praise from Boeing for its responsiveness in the wake of the disaster.

the company’s most proactive
effort ever toward managing
the supply base. So-called production readiness assessments
have always included general
appraisals of suppliers’ management of their own supply
chains, engineering and manufacturing capability and quality
assurance. Last year, however,
Boeing augmented those activities with a process of reviewing more than 1,000 suppliers’
specific plans for achieving the
rate increases.
“So we would go and ask
each one of them, ‘Are you
purchasing more equipment?
Are you hiring more staff ? Are
you sending work out of your
example, its new Prism EP2400
resin infusion system brings easier, out-of-autoclave production
to primary aircraft structures.
Thanks to its low cure temperature, it does not need an
autoclave. Hence, lower capital, tooling and manufacturing
costs, according to the firm. In
addition, part size is no longer
limited by the autoclave’s size.
Resin infusion enables complex textile geometries. “This
process gives more freedom,”
Pigford said. With the EP2400,
these benefits are brought to
primary structure manufacturing. He further explained
that his engineers have created
“a new class of toughness” in
infused products.–T.D.
AINonline iPhone App
NOW AVAILABLE

18 Farnborough Airshow News • July 11, 2012 • www.ainonline.com

facility to other suppliers?’”
said Fisher. “We reviewed those
plans in some detail with them
and then worked on a collaborative basis if we saw any issues.”
Monitoring Mode

Since collecting and evaluating those plans, Boeing has
now moved into what Fisher
called a monitoring mode,
which, he said, has progressed
“relatively well.”
“As we’ve moved through
the rate breaks over the past
year or so, the performance of
the supply chain has been very
strong,” he added. “We’ve seen
record low supplier cost shortages on our programs…We
have a long way to go, however,
and I don’t want to declare success until we get through all of
the rate increases.”
Boeing then sends experts
in various fields to individual suppliers to address whatever production difficulties it
might encounter. Most often, he
added, success will depend the
cooperation showed by the supplier. “And we are not shy about
implementing that if we see a
need,” said Fisher.
Of course, schedule changes
initiated by Boeing itself could
stress suppliers as well, Fisher
acknowledged, and he named
several accommodations the
OEM has made. In some cases,
the sides have arrived at a compromise shipping schedule,
allowing, for example, suppliers
to ship earlier than Boeing’s strict
schedule might require to allow
their production systems to flow
more smoothly.
In fact, Boeing has learned
from the way some of its Tier
1 suppliers manage their own
supply chains and incorporated
some of those methods itself.

Kent Fisher, BCA vice president and
general manager for supply chain
management, considers the implications
of more frequent use of two suppliers for
the same part.

Of course, others have proved
rather poor at supplier management, said Fisher.
“We really try to be collaborative,” he stressed. “I don’t know
if every supplier would describe
it that way, but we try to come
in and understand the total circumstances of that supplier and
find a solution that keeps these
factories moving.”
One Tier 1 partner deserves
particular praise for its responsiveness under particularly trying circumstances, said Fisher.
Wichita-based Spirit Aerosystems, supplier of most of the
Boeing 737 fuselage along with
major parts for virtually the
entire line of Boeing commercial airplanes, never missed a
delivery despite serious tornado
damage in April that closed its
operation for more than a week.
“We are aware that there are
many facilities, not just in Wichita, that are difficult to replace,”
said Fisher. “So if something
happens we will have to overcome interruptions in supply and
I think that the way that we’ve
approached that is by dedicating
our resources and counting on
the kind of performance that we
saw out of the Spirit team.” o

www.rolls-royce.com

Advanced cameras and millions of
data points measure each fan blade
to within a fraction of a hair’s width.
Because reliability is at the heart of everything we do, it’s quite
understandable why, during manufacture, we use millions of data points
from advanced cameras to measure the dimensions of each blade to
within an accuracy of 40 microns. That’s less than half the width of a
human hair. It’s this attention to detail which maximises operational
efficiency for our customers.
Making the extraordinary, ordinary.

Trusted to deliver excellence

Airbus beefs up A380 wing
to address fatigue cracking
by Ian Goold
Airbus is producing a “final fix” to
strengthen parts of the A380’s wing
structure that have developed cracks on
early examples of the very-large airliner.
Aircraft now in production will be modified and the changes will be retrofitted to
in-service aircraft. The cracks occurred
on wing-rib feet that fasten skin panels to
internal wing ribs.
An inspection and repair program,
approved by the European Aviation
Safety Agency (EASA), permits continued safe operation of almost 80 aircraft
that have been delivered to customers,
according to programs executive vice
president Tom Williams. The Airbus
executive has acknowledged his embarrassment about the problem because
the A380 wing was developed in Britain early in the last decade during his
tenure as the UK program manager, so
“my fingerprints are all over the A380
wing,” he said.
Speaking as he was the outgoing
Airbus chief executive shortly before
becoming chief executive of parent
company EADS in June, Tom Enders
conceded that the situation was not
good for the manufacturer. Airbus
thought it understood the properties of
the A380 wing materials and the interface between carbonfiber and metal,
but “found out the wrong way we didn’t
know everything,” said Enders. “It has

cost the company a great deal of money
and [harmed our] reputation.”
In its 2012 first-quarter results,
EADS said the final retrofit fix is more
complex than initially anticipated in
March. “Therefore, the group updated
the cost for the retrofit solution, leading to an additional charge of €158
million [about $200 million] in the first
quarter,” he said. Altogether, Airbus
has registered charges of €264 million
(about $330 million) to cover modification of the 30 A380s it plans to
deliver this year.
All A380s delivered from early 2014
will be to this standard. Before then Airbus plans new 575- and 490-metric-ton
(about 1.268 million pounds and 1.08
million pounds, respectively) maximum
takeoff weights offering operators some
500 nm more range or eight tons (about
17,640 pounds) extra payload.
The changes mean an A380 could fly
525 passengers from London to Perth,
Australia, said Airbus. Operating at
510 tons (almost 1.125 million pounds)
mtow with 670 passengers, a “regional”
A380 could fly from Hong Kong to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, or beyond Australia,
according to Williams.
Improved engines will be available
from both suppliers, including new
optional thrust settings for operations
from short, hot or high runways. Also

Following the discovery of cracks in some wing-rib “feet” where skin panels are attached, Airbus plans to provide
replacement parts for wings in service or awaiting final assembly. After modification, A380s may be flown without
additional inspections, at least until they achieve their 19,000-flight-cycle design service objective.

coming are structural design and system improvements to reduce weight and
increase reliability.
Modified Wings

From the end of 2012, the A380 will
feature modified wings that incorporate
a revised design for certain ribs following Airbus’s analysis of cracks discovered
earlier this year in feet (or brackets) that
attach the ribs to the outer skins, known
as “covers,” in Airbus parlance. The manufacturer will revert to the use of metal in
place of the composites material chosen
originally to save weight in the wing-rib
panels (or webs) and is planning to provide parts for in-service aircraft modification from early next year. The change
brings A380 wing-ribs into line with other
Airbus models that have metal wing ribs.
In the future, all wing-rib feet will be

Airbus asks passengers to predict future cabin preferences
Airliner manufacturers aren’t mind readers, so it isn’t easy for them
to work out what passengers will request beyond the current generation of cabin services. To find out with more certainty, Airbus has
surveyed more than 10,000 people who could be passengers four
decades from now to learn their preferences.
The result is the Airbus Concept Cabin, which shows how things
might be. Aircraft interiors marketing head Zuzana Hrnkova said that
first-, business-, and economy-class sections will become known as
“‘Vitalizing,’ ‘Interaction’ and ‘Smart Tech’ zones for a bespoke inflight experience.” The new classes of traveler accommodation will
address perceived individualized requirements such as relaxation, recreation, interaction or business meetings with people on the ground.
“By offering different levels of experience within each zone, airlines

Airliners of the future could have bionic airframe structures constructed like a
bird’s skeleton and coated with a biopolymer membrane controlling the skin’s
opacity, thus permitting 360-degree exterior views and making windows obsolete.

would be able to achieve the price differential they need to operate
a successful business, give more people access to the benefits of air
travel and still look after the environment,” said Hrnkova, who summarized many possible technological innovations available to a future
passenger generation.
The 2020 jetliner could sport a bionic airframe constructed like
a bird’s skeleton to provide required fuselage strength, while using
extra available cabin capacity. This structure would be coated with a
biopolymer membrane controlling levels of humidity, natural light and
temperature, including the skin’s opacity/transparency, thus giving
360-degree exterior views on demand and making windows obsolete.
Future passenger cabins also would be fully ecological, said
Hrnkova. Fully recyclable plant fibers could be grown and customized
to replace nonrenewable metal or plastics materials. Future materials
might comprise fluid and gas rather than being solid.
In fact, Hrnkova said morphing materials that change shape and
return to their original form are possible, being metals or polymers
with a memory, or covered with a skin to generate a changed shape.
So-called self-reliant materials would clean and repair themselves,
while surface coatings inspired by nature would be used for seat fabrics and carpets; paints would seal scratches.
Future smart materials could perform numerous functions, recognizing passengers who would be connected wirelessly to the aircraft.
Cabin elements could be created through additive layer manufacturing or three-dimensional printing techniques that simplify production
of very complex shapes and waste less material, according to Hrnkova.
Finally, smart solutions such as energy harvesting would collect
excess energy from window-blind solar panels and passengers body
heat to power cabin equipment, while pictorial scenes could be projected as virtual decors for cabin wall panels.
–I.G.

22 Farnborough Airshow News • July 11, 2012 • www.ainonline.com

manufactured from 7010 Aluminum,
rather than 7449 material, making them
“similar to other Airbus aircraft,” according to Williams. “All aircraft delivered
from early 2014 [will be] to this standard.
There will be no weight increase and thus
no impact on aircraft performance.”
Airbus is planning to provide parts
for retrofit to the current A380 fleet,
and aircraft already in production, during the first quarter of 2013. After modification, they may be flown without the
need for “extraordinary inspections or
interventions” at least until they achieve
their design service objective (or “life”)
of 19,000 flight cycles.
Wing sets for as many as 50 aircraft in
various stages of construction had been
delivered to the final-assembly line in
Toulouse from Airbus UK by the beginning of last month. Each A380 wing has
up to 60 ribs, with about 4,000 rib feet per
wing set, although only about 20 brackets
have been subject to cracking.
The work to overcome the problem
involves changing the relevant composite wing-rib panels and associated rib
feet, said Williams. An “intensive testing
and analysis” exercise is under way. “The
method and timing of the modification is
being discussed with airlines to align with
their operational needs,” he said.
An Airbus investigation revealed two
material problems, identified as Type 1
“micro” cracks in the wing-rib feet and,
more significantly, Type 2 examples that
must be inspected when aircraft have
reached 1,300 flight cycles. “The cracks
result from material choice, thermal distortion at extreme low temperature and
stresses generated during assembly. [The]
final fix for all aircraft is being designed–
for delivered aircraft and new production [examples]. It will restore the full life
capability of the wing without performance impact,” according to Williams.
He said that Airbus had not used
carbonfiber composites for wing-rib
construction on previous models and
that the A380’s designers were “pushing hard” to reduce weight. By using
the composite material for wing-rib
webs and conventional aluminum-alloy
for rib feet, the manufacturer had been
able to save about 660 pounds from the
weight of each wing.
o

AUSTRALIA

CANADA

LIBYA

MALDIVES

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

PERU

RUSSIA

SEYCHELLES

TAHITI

TURKEY

UGANDA

View the
Series 400 on
static display or visit
Viking Pavilion OE26
for more
information.

Rolls advances its Vision
for post-2020 new technology
by Ian Goold
A composite fan blade, a real
Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 high-bypass
powerplant and a model of the Trent
XWB being developed for the Airbus
A350 are on the manufacturer’s stand
here at Farnborough (Hall 4 Stand H3,
and Innovation Zone) to illustrate the
state of the engine maker’s art and where
the company expects to go next. In what
the UK-based group calls a “relentless pursuit of technology,” Rolls-Royce
is “always looking at 15 to 20 different
designs beyond 2020,” according to strategic marketing vice president Robert
Nuttall. As the manufacturer continues
various engine core and systems demonstrator programs, it is considering the
technologies required for future commercial and large corporate aircraft.
Rolls-Royce studies alternative applications for its research results, so future
programs must accommodate different
possibilities, said Nuttall. Some research
addresses outside requirements, a current
example being the RB3025 project geared
to a Boeing request about an engine for a
future 777-size aircraft (see box); other
work is driven by internal needs.
Underlining the long-term nature of
research and development, Nuttall said
tomorrow is “six or seven years away,
so it will be [that long] before [a newly
launched project] enters service, plus a
ten-year development program.”
A key element in Rolls-Royce philosophy is its three-phase Vision program.
“Vision 5” describes available, off-theshelf technologies that could be incorporated into new products or used to

update existing engines. Developments at
the validation stage and due to be commercially available in the medium-term
(up to 10 years ahead) are dubbed Vision
10, while technologies at the emerging (or
unproved) strategic research stage and
aimed at future generations up to two
decades hence are classed as Vision 20.
Unconvinced of the business case for
commercial aircraft re-engining programs
such as the Airbus A320neo and Boeing’s
737 MAX (and having failed two years
ago to dissuade the two airframe manufacturers otherwise), Rolls-Royce officials
remain adamant that the future lies in
developing projects that match airframes
and engines from the start. “We want to
design an airplane and an engine that are
made for each other, to focus on driving
a level of technology that is not going to
be available in 2014 or 15 [for new designs
planned to enter service in mid-decade],”
Rolls-Royce senior vice president Dominic Horwood told the U.S. Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance last year.
Accordingly, the engine maker is looking much farther into the future, having
dissolved its interest in International Aero
Engines (which continues to make V2500
engines as a Pratt & Whitney, JAEC and
MTU partnership) in favor of a new
50:50 joint venture with P&W to develop
engines to power the next generation of
mid-sized airliners (120 to 230 seats).
Regional and Corporate Applications

Smaller members of a family of such
engines also could be used on future
regional airliners and medium- and largesize business jets. Focusing on highbypass-ratio geared turbofan technology,
the joint venture will collaborate on studies for future propulsion systems, including
advanced geared engines, open-rotor technology and other advanced configurations.
For some time, it has been working on
new Advance2 and Advance3 two- and
three-shaft engine series. Led by German subsidiary Rolls-Royce Deutschland’s two-shaft center of excellence

Rolls-Royce has devised an
all-new RB3025 engine concept
following a Boeing request for a
powerplant to equip a future 777size aircraft in around 2020.

in Stuttgart, Advance2 work considers
requirements for aircraft from mediumsized business jets up to 150-passenger
narrowbodies. Rolls-Royce believes it can
produce a good engine by using a fan
derived from its large engines attached to
a core based on the E3E efficiency, environment and economy technology-demonstrator that entered test four years ago.
A slightly smaller fan would be used
for large corporate and regional jets;
removal of a compressor stage will permit the basic core to be used for midsize
business aircraft. Advance2 features a
“world-leading” 22:1 high-pressure compressor ratio and two-stage HP turbine.
The Advance3 program is based on
the Trent 1000-derived environmentally
friendly engine (EFE) technology demonstrator core and is aimed at providing three-shaft engines for commercial
widebodies such as the prospective Boeing
777X expected to enter service around the
end of the decade. Advance3 incorporates
“lean-burn” combustion and technology
from the advanced low-pressure system
(ALPS) demonstrator project.
EFE is part of the UK National Aerospace Technology Strategy program that
aims to develop measures that will reduce
noise, fuel burn and emissions. One element of EFE includes an active bladetip clearance-control system. Nuttall said
that a “most sensitive area” of engine
technology is loss of efficiency because
of leakage around blade tips.

Rolls Offers RB3025 for New Triple Seven

A composite fan blade can be seen on the RollsRoyce stand here at Farnborough alongside a Trent
1000 high-bypass engine and a model of the Trent
XWB being developed for the Airbus A350.

An all-new RB3025 engine concept has been created by Rolls-Royce following a Boeing request
also extended to General Electric and Pratt & Whitney for a powerplant for a future 777-size aircraft in
around 2020. The current 777 is powered exclusively by the GE90.
Rolls-Royce has selected a 132.5-inch diameter for the composite fan for the 99,500-pound-thrust
engine, which will sport a 12:1 bypass ratio and a 62:1 overall pressure ratio that would be the h­ ighest
achieved on a commercial aircraft.
The UK manufacturer predicts a “better than 10-percent” improvement in specific fuel consumption, compared with current GE90-115B engines powering the 777, and a 15-percent margin over its
own Trent 800 on some older 777s.
The RB3025 derives much from its present Trent 1000 and XWB powerplants, with strategic ­marketing vice president Robert Nuttall attributing remaining technology to R-R’s “Advance3”
­environmentally friendly engine (EFE) development program (see main story).
Boeing is expected to require engines for two models of its future large twin-aisle twinjet, and RollsRoyce is likely to offer a de-rated variant of a basic unit to meet the lower power requirement. –I.G.

24 Farnborough Airshow News • July 11, 2012 • www.ainonline.com

The active control senses dynamically
what is happening, compared with current systems that sense temperature and
control fuel flow to pre-set parameters.
According to Nuttall, “The question is:
‘Can you sense the [blade-tip clearance] in
real time and adjust it as necessary?’”
The LP system uses a composite fan
and casing (for comparison with established titanium equipment) and is on
schedule for testing beginning in 2014.
Other demonstration work also planned
for testing in two years’ time includes the
advanced low-emissions combustion systems (ALECSYS) “lean-burn” demonstrator program that has been under way
for “some considerable time.”
The program uses an “advanced
active-control”system involving valves to
meter fuel flow and an “innovative” thermal-management system to reduce mean
peak temperatures and the time engine
parts are exposed to that level of heat.
Nuttall said that ALPS and ALECSYS
work involves two separate engines for
two separate flying-testbed programs.
Rolls-Royce does not see any imminent move into the application of openrotor technology, but it has been working
on such a powerplant that could become
available during 2020-25. The manufacturer wants first to complete any related
flight-testing “so that we can have an
informed design.” It is not proposing
open-rotor flights before the second half
of this decade, according to Nuttall.
After completion of wind-tunnel tests
with potential open-rotor blade designs,
Rolls-Royce became convinced the technology will be quieter than current equivalent-size engines. Using generic round
numbers, Nuttall said such designs are
expected to offer 10 percent better fuel
consumption but would be 10 percent
“less quiet.” Meanwhile, the company sees
open-rotor propulsion as “the only real
game-changer relative to an advanced turbofan, and the only thing that can deliver
clear daylight–10 percent better.”
o

P&W gears up to deliver
PW1100Gs for the A320neo

Helmet display
serves as the
eyes of the JSF

with additional options and a long-term
PureSolution maintenance agreement.
Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2015.
“With oil prices on the rise, we are more
satisfied than ever with our selection,” said
IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh. “As a
result of the lower engine operating cost,
we are confident we can maintain our
competitive low fares,” added Ghosh.
Cebu Pacific Air’s order to power 30
A321neos also includes a 10-year PureSolution maintenance package for each engine.
Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2017.
The carrier currently operates 10
Airbus A319s, 20 Airbus A320s and
eight ATR 72 500 turboprops. Between
2012 and 2021, Cebu Pacific plans to
take delivery of 22 more Airbus A320s
and the 30 Airbus A321neos, and it also
holds options for another 10 Neos. o

BAE Systems is now bringing
‘active inceptors’ to civil craft
by Bill Carey
BAE Systems is migrating “active
inceptor” control technology from military aircraft to civil applications–
enabling direct pilot inputs into the
flight controls of commercial fly-by-wire
(FBW) aircraft. The UK-based company is developing its civil active control
stick (ACS) for an unnamed commercial
launch customer.
Active inceptor technology was developed for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and
JAS 39 Gripen fighters and the UH-60
and CH-53 helicopters. Active control
sticks also will be implemented on the
Embraer KC-390 military transport,
which is being developed for dual military and civil certifications. The KC-390
is expected to enter service in 2016.
Active inceptors enable pilot inputs
to be transmitted to the actuators controlling flight surfaces in an aircraft’s
FBW system, providing “stick to surface” functionality. In turn, the system
provides tactile cues or resistance back
to the pilot to mimic the feel of the aircraft. Passive inceptors are those that
provide tactile information through the
use of springs and dampers.
Advantages of active inceptors,
according to BAE, include increased
pilot awareness of flight modes and
conditions, and warnings of impending flight envelope limits through tactile
feedback. Helicopter pilots experience
improved handling while hovering or
flying at low speeds, or in degraded
visual conditions.
“What it means is that we can actually
change the characteristics of the stick and

do it in real-time,” working in conjunction
with the FBW system, said Nigel Wright,
BAE Systems director of flight controls and
displays, Commercial Aircraft Solutions.
BAE accomplished the first flight of a
multi-redundant, safety critical ACS on
the X-32 and X-35 Joint Strike Fighter
candidates in 2000, and started development of an active sidestick controller on

the winning Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II in 2001. It started development of
the first production helicopter active cyclic
and collective controls in 2005. The ACS
civil certification effort for the unnamed
launch customers began in 2010, followed
by the KC-390 active stick development
this year. BAE claims to be the only manufacturer with active inceptors in production, providing “a tremendous tie-up”
with the company’s military and commercial FBW systems, said Wright.
“We’ve been on quite a journey with
this product and invested quite a lot of
money to move it forward,” said Wright.
“It isn’t quite as simple as taking a passive
inceptor and bolting on a motor.”
o

Vision Systems International (VSI),
the joint venture company of Rockwell
Collins and Elbit Systems of Israel,
is displaying the advanced helmetmounted display system (HMDS) of the
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and other helmet display systems at its Farnborough
International airshow stand.
F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin
has recently reported progress with three
fixes intended to mitigate night-vision,
latency and jitter problems identified by
Joint Strike Fighter pilots with the Gen
II HMDS.
The joint venture also is displaying its Targo HMD and joint helmetmounted cueing system (JHMCS). The
Targo helmet display is a low-cost solution for light-attack, airlift and trainer
aircraft. The JHMCS, VSI’s first product,
is a joint U.S. Air Force and Navy helmetmounted display qualified on the F-15,
F-16 and F/A-18 fighters. Over 4,000 systems have been fielded, according to VSI
(Hall 2 Stand B15).–B.C.

Vision Systems International, a cooperative venture
between Elbit and Rockwell Collins, makes the
helmet-mounted display for the Joint Strike Fighter.

a merlin symphony
The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight draws many Farnborough
visitors outside of the halls to gaze up in awe–and listen. With
four Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12 engines aboard the RAF Lancaster bomber and a fifth in the nose of the Spitfire Mk Vb,
the sound is unmistakable. For those who appreciate the
history of these historic aircraft–and the Spitfire is an acutal
combat veteran–the piston-tympany is music to the ears.

www.ainonline.com • July 11, 2012 • Farnborough Airshow News 25

MARK WAGNER

Pratt & Whitney had a strong start at
the Farnborough International airshow
Monday, when its PW1100G geared turbofan engines were selected by two budget Asian carriers–India’s IndiGo and
Cebu Pacific Air of the Philippines–to
power the Airbus A320neo family aircraft
they have on order. Indigo’s deal represents one of the largest orders in the U.S.
engine maker’s history, said the OEM.
The U.S. engine manufacturer also
announced that Norwegian Air Shuttle
signed a memorandum of understanding to
power 50 Airbus A320neos with PW1100Gs,
with first delivery scheduled for 2016.
With its fleet of 57 new Airbus A320s,
Indigo is already India’s largest budget
carrier (and its only profit-making one).
Its agreement for 150 Airbus A320neos
includes 300 firm orders for engines,

DAVID McINTOSH

by Neelam Mathews

Joyce remains ‘positive’
as engine backlogs grow
Forecasting order announcements for engines worth up to
$10 billion by the end of this
week’s Farnborough International airshow, GE Aviation president and chief executive David
Joyce described the atmosphere
so far as “more subdued” than
the “wild” Paris Air Show last
year, but nevertheless still “very
positive.” Joyce cited backlogs
of “six to seven years” for General Electric’s widebody-airliner
engines, with outstanding orders
for its CFM International joint
venture with Safran covering
“four to five” years’ production.
With GE ramping-up manufacturing rates to match buoyant

GE Pushes Ahead with
Engine for 777X
General Electric is stepping up
studies to provide a new engine
for Boeing’s planned 777X. GE90
program manager Bill Millhaem
has confirmed that the proposed
GE9X turbofan will deliver 10 percent greater fuel efficiency than
existing engines in the family.
The U.S. engine maker expects
to achieve a first run of the highpressure compressor rig early in
2013. The first test of the full core
should be achieved by 2015.–I.G.

market requirements, he expects
to see an almost 10-percent production increase for GE, CFMI
and the GE/Pratt & Whitney
Engine Alliance (EA) commercial powerplants this year, from
2,200 in 2011 to 2,400, and a similar 200-unit growth next year to
2,600 engines. Widebody-engine
deliveries are said to have doubled since 2009 to this year’s
planned 480, with production of
564 foreseen in 2013.
The workhorse CFM56 remains the “key production driver,” according to GE, accounting
for 1,400 of last year’s engines,
with up to 1,600 such units earmarked for manufacture in 2014.
There are some 26,000 GE, CFMI and EA engines in service, a
population expected to increase
to 45,000 by 2020.
Confirming the continuing
“outstanding performance” by its
new GEnx engine, GE Aviation
has deployed 60 field service engineers to meet all arriving Boeing
787 and 747-8 flights to ensure a
smooth entry into service. With
close to 100 such powerplants
said to be performing “extremely
well” in the field, by early this
month they had welcomed more
than 2,100 flights at almost 50
airports in nearly 30 countries.
GEnx engines have accumulated 130,000 plus flight hours

MBDA’s Spear for F-35
MBDA has unveiled a mockup
and video depiction of SPEAR, a
turbojet-powered air-surface missile for the UK Royal Air Force.
SPEAR stands for selective precision effects at range and the missile is intended for launch from
the stealthy Lockheed Martin F-35 (Joint Strike Fighter) at
ranges in excess of 100 km.
MBDA describes SPEAR an
all-weather, day/night, networkcentric, low collateral-damage
weapon that flies at high subsonic speeds. It is capable of
dealing with an extremely large
target set ranging from fast-moving maneuvering vehicles (including main battle tanks), hardened
structures, air defense units and
missile launchers, to naval vessels.
It will have a multimode seeker, a
multi-effects warhead and GPS/
INS guidance with a data link for
mid-course target updates.
SPEAR is being designed so

that four can fit into each of the
F-35’s two internal weapons bays.
However, the length of the missiles may have to be reduced from
that seen in image below now
that the UK has reverted to the
F-35B, which has a shorter weapons bay than the F-35C. The missile is carried upside down in the
F-35 and has pop-out wings. A
new launcher will be designed.
The concept of operations
includes launching multiple missiles against difficult targets, such
as an air defense system, with the

MARK WAGNER

by Ian Goold

Zimex accepts its Second Viking 400
Here at the Farnborough International airshow, Swiss operator Zimex Aviation took delivery of its second Viking 400
from Canada’s Viking Aircraft. Zimex, which was launch customer for the modernized version of the de Havilland Twin
Otter, received its first aircraft at the 2010 Farnborough show; it is now deployed on charter operations in Uganda.

and more than 28,000 flight cycles
since entering service last October, according to program general
manager Chuck Nugent. More
than 140 are planned for 2012
production, with 200 engines
scheduled for next year and an
annual capacity for 300 expected
in the next few years.
As GEnx maturation continues, GE Aviation will continue
tests to accumulate an additional 25,000 cycles by 2016,
equal to about 20 years’ actual
service. It will have conducted
five shop visits on the maturation engine before the first such
exercise on a customer unit.
The established GE90 engine
that powers all Boeing 777s has
been celebrating the passage of
milestones with more than 1,400
weapons approaching from different angles.
MBDA UK managing director Steve Wadey said the new
missile would be “vital for future
multi-role missions of the F-35.”
He expressed confidence that
SPEAR would attract other customers and would be carried by
other platforms.
The missile is already in the
assessment phase, which will
include an air launch and ignition of the turbojet. The UK
Ministry of Defence will decide
in 2014 whether to proceed to a
demonstration phase and eventual manufacture.–C.P.

RAF F-35 stealth fighters will carry MBDA’s Spear missile.

26 Farnborough Airshow News • July 11, 2012 • www.ainonline.com

now in service, accumulation of
more than 30 million flight-hours
and delivery of 1,000 GE90115B models since entry-intoservice eight years ago. Last year,
GE Aviation received operator commitments covering 400

engines, exceeding 2007’s previous record level of 250 units.
The company expects to produce
more than 180 GE90 engines this
year, up from 170 in 2011, with
production expected to climb to
225 engines in 2014.
o

GEnx engines have logged more than 130,000 flight hours since entering service on
the Boeing 787 since entering service last October.

Russian leasing company
signs deals for 25 aircraft
Russian
leasing
group
Ilyushin Finance Corp. (IFC)
has signed an agreement for
15 aircraft from the Antonov
An-148/158 family of regional
airliners, valued at around
$420 million based on list
prices. IFC will in turn resell
the aircraft to its new partner
in Panama.
South American Aircraft
Leasing will place the twinjets
with local carriers, with an initial three An-158s due to be
delivered from December 2012.
Five more An-158s and seven
An-148s are due to be delivered
between 2013 and 2014.
South American Aircraft
Leasing intends to provide customer support and arrange
repair and maintenance for the
aircraft. The partnership with

IFC is intended to create easier
access to the Antonov.
IFC also has ordered 10 Aircraft Industries’ L-410 UVP
E-20 twin turboprops, with
options for another three. Deliveries of the 19-seaters are scheduled for 2013 and 2014, possibly
2015 if the options are exercised. The contract is valued at
$80 million.
The L-410 UVP E-20 is a
new variant of the Let 410 that
dates back from the Soviet era.
Let successor Aircraft Industries is based in the Czech
Republic but owned by Russian investors.–T.D.

Sea Sparrow joins Norway’s NASAMS stable
by David Donald
Last month Raytheon and Kongsberg
conducted the first firing of the Evolved
Sea Sparrow missile (ESSM) from the
NASAMS (Norwegian advanced surface-to-air missile system). The June 24
firing at Norway’s Andøya Rocket Range
not only validated the ability to fire the
ESSM with the system, but also the ability to integrate an older-generation Hawk
high-power illuminator into the system.
The NASAMS was developed by
Raytheon and Kongsberg to answer a Norwegian requirement for medium-range air

defense, and is the first such system with
active radar missile capability. The system
has subsequently been sold to Chile, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain and the U.S.
At the heart of the NASAMS is the fire
distribution center that coordinates the
actions of launch units. Missiles can be
launched from open rails or canisters.
The standard weapon for the NASAMS is the active-radar AMRAAM,
but the imaging infrared AIM-9X can
also be used, providing the system with
a dual-mode capability. The addition of

the semi-active ESSM makes it the third
missile to be integrated with the NASAMS, although it requires an additional illuminating radar, such as the Hawk
unit used in the Norwegian test.
Last year the NASAMS team also
fired a German Diehl-BGT IRIS-T missile in a demonstration of the ability of
system to fire non-U.S. missiles.
o

Raytheon’s Evolved Sea Sparrow missile system is
fired from a NASAMS system last month.

Bombardier sizes up the prospects
for a stretched, 90-seat Q400
“There will be tradeoffs [but] a Q400X
stretch to 90 seats would bring added productivity,“ he stated, “and the Next Gen
does have seat-growth potential.”
He also pointed out that the 360-knot
cruising speed of the aircraft and the new
2-plus-1 business class cabin layout–with
large overhead bins–provided a similar
flight experience to jets, including comparable point-to-point times on many services. The Q400 design could, he said,
grow further if that was the way to go.
With potential re-engining options
opening up (with suppliers such as General Electric and Pratt & Whitney Canada well on the way to offering optimized
powerplant solutions), this possible future
roadmap might be one reason why Bombardier is quietly confident that the Q400
Next Gen is currently on a roll, not experiencing just a temporary surge owing to
the growing ATR backlog.
This year has brought in much-needed new orders and options, including sales
of up to 45 from Canadian airline WestJet,
and up to 20 for Eurolot in Poland, with
more expected very soon. This renewed
sense of confidence is reflected in the increasing pace of production at Toronto. o

DAVID McINTOSH

It seems that much discussion is still
under way at Bombardier as to whether
or not it should launch a stretched, 90-seat
model of its Dash 8 Q400 Next Gen turboprop. Speaking during a pre-show media
briefing in Toronto, home of the Canadian
manufacturer’s turboprop airliner family,
Philippe Poutissou, vice president marketing at Bombardier Commercial Aircraft,
said the company carried out extensive
studies to investigate what potential customers might be looking for.
Bombardier’s arch rival in the turboprop
regional market, Europe’s ATR, has been on
a sales high in the last couple of years, albeit
with just one family product line, and has
been considering an all-new 90-seater. Bombardier has a broader commercial family in
development, and production ranging from
the CRJ regional jet family and the Q400,
to the new CSeries airliner, to its expanding
Global and Learjet business jet families. The
company has, therefore, felt able to resist
market pressure to press ahead and has
taken the time to carry out significant market research while also waiting to see what
course of action ATR might pursue.
Bombardier’s forecasts indicate a possible market for some 2,400 new deliveries
in the combined turboprop sector
over the next two decades. “[However], there are many questions to
ask before making any decisions
on this,” commented Poutissou.
“We need to hear what [customers] most
want to see, given that they want increased
capacity. Will it come through a product
featuring much new technology, or will
maximum commonality with existing fleets
be a priority?”
The Bombardier executive added that
timing would also be an important factor.

To stretch, or not to stretch the Q400 turboprop? That is the question execs are pondering at Bombardier.

www.ainonline.com • July 11, 2012 • Farnborough Airshow News 27

news clips
z IAI Chosen To Develop and Produce Amos 6

MARK WAGNER

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) was recently selected by
Space Communications (Spacecom), the Israeli satellite fleet
operator, as a supplier for the development and production
of the Amos 6 communication satellite, which will replace the
Amos 2 satellite. The contract is valued
at around $200 million and represents a
coup for the company, which reportedly
fought off stiff competition from the likes
of U.S. company Loral.
“The Amos 6 communications satellite
will incorporate new technologies that
represent a significant leap forward in the
capabilities of IAI and the state of Israel in
space,” said Joseph Weiss, IAI’s president
Joseph Weiss, president and CEO. The new satellite is scheduled
for launch in 2014 or 2015 and will be
and CEO of Israel
Aerospace Industries.
located at 4 degrees West.

z VSMPO Contracted for Comac 919 Forgings

Arkia Israeli Airlines has signed a purchase agreement
for four Airbus A321neos here at the Farnborough International
airshow. A new Airbus customer, Arkia will use its aircraft
in an all-economy class configuration, seating 220
passengers. Engine selection will be announced later,
Airbus said.

z New-generation TCAS from ACSS Enters Service
Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems
(ACSS) announced here that the first Bombardier Q400
equipped with the TCAS 3000SP (surveillance processor)
has been delivered to Polish airline Eurolot. ACSS is a joint
venture between L-3 Aviation Products (70 percent) and
Thales (30 percent).
The TCAS 3000SP has been developed to operate in the
NextGen air traffic management environment, and features
the latest TCAS Change 7.1 software. Last December this
iteration was mandated by EASA for all new aircraft operating in
European airspace.
TCAS 3000SP has become the standard traffic collision and
avoidance system to be integrated into the Thales avionics suite
for the Q400 twin-turboprop regional airliner.

z CTT Wins Zonal Drying Contracts for VVIP 747-8s
Sweden’s CTT Systems is to provide Cair zonal drying
equipment for two Boeing 747-8 VVIP aircraft. The first
is for a head-of-state corporate Boeing 747-8 being
completed by L-3 Platform Integration of Waco, Texas.
The second is under a contract with Amac Aerospace of
Switzerland. Both Cair installations are to be performed
next year.
The Cair system offers 20-percent humidified cabin
air without creating condensation. The use of evaporativecooling technology is also claimed to preclude the transfer
of bacteria within the aircraft. CTT zonal drying is standard
equipment on the new Boeing 787. Optional humidifiers
are available for 787 and Airbus A380 crew-rest areas and
787 flight decks.
CTT is also set to provide Cair equipment for a corporate
Airbus A330-200 being completed by Dallas-based Associated
Air Center, which previously has installed such systems on
Airbus A319s, Boeing 767s and BBJ1s.

The Kamov KA-62 is a civil variant of the manufacturer’s KA-60 military model. Powered by two 1,282-shp Rybunsk
RD-600V turboshaft engines, it can carry 14 passengers and has a published cruising speed of 148 knots.

New specs for 737 MAX
will add 540 nm of range
Boeing plans to raise the maximum takeoff weight of the 737
MAX by some 5,000 pounds
over its current generation of
narrowbodies, resulting in as
much as 540 nm more range.
The new specifications, outlined
by Boeing at the Farnborough
International airshow yesterday, will help the airframer better cover the market segment
now occupied by the out-of-production Boeing 757, said vice
president of 737 MAX product
marketing Joe Ozimek.
“This will allow our customers the flexibility to open up new
markets,” said Ozimek. “A lower
operating empty weight but
higher maximum takeoff weight
allows customers to increase
payload or range of the airplane
beyond what the main competition can offer.”
Carrying a maximum takeoff
weight of 181,200 pounds, the
MAX 8 will fly 162 passengers
as far as 3,620 nm, compared
with the 3,080 nm the 737-800
now offers. The MAX 9, meanwhile, will fly 180 passengers as
far as 3,595 nm, compared with
the 3,055 nm the 737-900ER can
manage. Finally, the 737 MAX
7 will fly 126 passengers as far
as 3,800 nm, compared with the
737-700NG’s 3,400 nm.
Boeing expects the MAX
to burn, on average, 13 percent
less fuel than the 737NG and

28 Farnborough Airshow News • July 11, 2012 • www.ainonline.com

8 percent less than the Airbus
A320neo.
Schedules call for completion
of firm configuration next year,
followed by detailed design in
2014, aircraft assembly in 2015,
first flight in 2016 and entry into
service in 2017.–G.P.

Raytheon wins $4.7m pact
Raytheon has received a $4.7
million contract from the U.S.
Army to develop three of the six
components of the service’s Air
Soldier system. Air Soldier follows on from the earlier Air Warrior system and covers a suite
of wearable electronic devices
that enhance life-support and

MARK WAGNER

Russia’s VSMPO-AVISMA Corp., specialist manufacturer of
products made of titanium and aluminum alloys, steel and nickel,
and Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Co. (SAMC) have signed a
long-term purchase contract for titanium forging products for the
Comac C919 aircraft program.
VSMPO-AVISMA is to manufacture titanium closed-die
forgings. The two companies are also in discussions for semifinished machining of the die-forgings.

Raytheon is to develop three components
of the Air Soldier suite of wearable
electronic devices for air crews.

tactical capabilities for helicopter crew. Under the engineering
and manufacturing development
contract Raytheon will design,
develop and qualify the soldier
computer, personal display and
mission display modules.
Worn on the pilot’s body
vest, the soldier computer module is the main processor and
storage component. The personal display module is a wristor knee-worn display unit, while
the mission display module is
a larger, removable tablet-style
display mounted in the cockpit. The system allows the pilot
to maintain situational awareness when outside the helicopter,
either during dismounted operations or if downed. The displays can show various tactical
displays, such as a moving map;
the system has its own GPS to
enable accurate tracking. Air
Soldier links into the personal
survival radio system.–D.D.

Boeing South Carolina
rolls out first Dreamliner
Boeing made history a few
weeks ago when it rolled out the
first commercial airliner built
outside of its manufacturing
base in the Puget Sound region
of Washington state: a 787
Dreamliner produced at its new
final assembly plant in North
Charleston, South Carolina.
For the U.S. airframer, it was a
breakthrough after a changed
approach to manufacturing that
has been far from straightforward and uncontentious.
Some 7,000 employees and visitors gathered in front of the massive final assembly building April
27 as a procession of speakers
including South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and Boeing
Commercial Airplanes CEO Jim
Albaugh framed the moment.
Dreamliner No. 46 emerged from
the hangar in a cloud of manufactured smoke, the words “Made
with pride in South Carolina”
and the state symbol of a Palmetto tree and crescent stenciled
near its nose. Weeks later, on May
23, employees assembled in the
building to watch a live broadcast
as the 787 took off from Charleston International Airport on its
maiden flight.
Troubled History

But history is seldom tidy.
Boeing erected the final assembly facility only after purchasing in stages the troubled
Global Aeronautica joint venture of Vought Aircraft and
Alenia Aeronautica. This
group had been responsible for
integrating 787 center fuselage
sections at the site adjacent to
Charleston airport, then shipping them to Everett, Washington, for the aircraft’s final
assembly. Boeing announced
its selection of the North
Charleston site for a new 787
final assembly line in October 2009 and broke ground
that November.
The decision to open a second Dreamliner assembly line
in South Carolina, a “right-towork” state that allows individuals to decide whether or not to
join a union, was threatened by a
National Labor Relations Board
(NLRB) complaint alleging that
it amounted to retaliation against
Boeing’s unionized work force in
Washington state. The NLRB
dropped its unfair labor practices
case in December after Boeing

and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers agreed on a new
four-year contract that includes
a Boeing commitment to build
the reengined 737 MAX in Renton, Washington.
Today the North Charleston complex covers 2.5 million
square feet, about half of that
space devoted to final assembly
and delivery activities, and employs 6,000 people working two
shifts five days a week. Thin-film
solar laminate panels on the assembly building roof generate the
equivalent of 20 percent of the
electricity used by the plant. The
site has “zero waste to landfill”
status, with all waste converted to
biomass or recycled.
During a plant tour coinciding with the first 787 rollout,
Jack Jones, Boeing South Carolina general manager, was asked
to compare the manufacturer’s union and non-union work
forces. “I worked in a union
shop [in Washington state] for 32
years,” he said. “There’re some
great, great [workers] up there.

PHOTOS: BILL CAREY

by Bill Carey

Jack Jones, left, Boeing South Carolina general manager, fielded questions
from reporters April 27 during a plant tour that coincided with the rollout of
the first 787 Dreamliner produced at the manufacturer’s North Charleston final
assembly facility. A crowd of 7,000 Boeing employees and visitors were on hand
when Dreamliner No. 46 was towed from the massive final assembly building.

It’s just all about leadership and
how leadership interacts with
their people.
“Up in Seattle, the leadership deals with the union leaders; that’s how you negotiate
with employees. Here, we are

developing a culture of
trust and respect and that’s
where it’s different. I think
people see it and believe it,
and we have a great relationship
with our people.”
The 642,720-sq-ft assembly
facility in North Charleston was
completed in June 2011, joining
existing buildings involved in 787

aft- and mid-body fabrication,
integration and assembly. The
rear and central fuselage sections
are advanced to final assembly
on site or ferried by the modified
747 Dreamlifter cargo plane to
Everett for final assembly.
Boeing executives say the
complex covers the production
Continued on page 31 u

The 787 Is a Showcase for Honeywell’s Latest Systems
The 787 is a veritable showcase for the latest technology from U.S. avionics and aircraft systems group Honeywell. The new widebody carries the most
comprehensive array of Honeywell equipment on any Boeing airliner, including triple-redundant flight control electronics, liquid-crystal display electronic
flight instrumentation, next-generation dual flight management systems, an
enhanced ground proximity warning system, navigation radios and antennas,
integrated air data, attitude/heading and earth reference systems, external
cargo and service, as well as internal cabin lighting, engine anti-ice valves and
air/oil heat exchangers for oil and generator cooling. The Honeywell offering
for the Dreamliner also includes a crew information system with maintenance
data storage and retrieval and communications management functions.
According to Honeywell, its avionics suite carries integration and reversionary capabilities to new levels, with the ability to display and control
flight management functions on primary flight and multifunction display
screens as well on pedestal-mounted control display units. The Dreamliner
flight deck has no mechanical circuit breakers. Breakers are all controllable
on the flight management CDU screen. The 787 offers operators an RNP.1
autoland capability option for flight down to a 100-foot ceiling.
At a recent presentation of the aircraft near its Phoenix, Arizona headquarters, Dave Douglass, Honeywell vice president for Boeing business,
pointed out that the 787 flight control system saves several thousand
pounds of weight compared to that on the earlier 777 aircraft. The company achieved this by eliminating long cable runs between flight control
electronics and control surface actuators, which also provides greater integration and faster response to control inputs. Also contributing to the
weight savings is a higher level of software integration with refined LRU
packaging compared to the Boeing 777.
Douglass said the Dreamliner has its own unique avionics system architecture compared to the 777. “There’s some common functionality between
the 787 and the Triple 7, but the 787 FMS and FCS give us improved route
planning, climb and descent optimization,” he explained.
Another new feature is an engine-out, real-time “diminished aircraft condition” set of displays and annunciations that clearly display systems status

and call out appropriate procedures. Crew resource management on the
787 is simplified and enhanced by an architecture and assignment of specific avionics control and programming duties to the captain and first officer,
eliminating the possibility of conflicting actions or omitted necessary tasks.
“Both pilots know exactly what they are supposed to do and what not
do,” explained Boeing flight test pilot Ed Wilson. “There’s no overlap or
redundancy in performance and, most importantly, nothing missed. It really
does lower the stress level and, with such a nice control feel, makes the airplane a pleasure to fly.”
A coordinated Boeing-Honeywell effort to achieve automatic flight control system functionality involved the close cooperation of engineers from
the Boeing Defense Systems Apache attack rotorcraft facility in nearby
Mesa, Arizona, and their Honeywell neighbors in Phoenix. Overcoming
schedule challenges, the team met or exceeded first flight schedule milestones, including exercising the autoland capability.
n

www.ainonline.com • July 11, 2012 • Farnborough Airshow News 29

Lessors have mixed opinions
on mega-orders syndrome

For engineered
aircraft fluid
controlvalves.

by Gregory Polek
The trend over the last few years in
which customers have placed extremely
large orders for airliners has raised
questions about the underlying reasons
and its potential effect on OEMs that
continue to raise production rates in
response. The practice seems most prevalent among customers for narrowbodies, prompting both Boeing and Airbus
to project rate increases to beyond 40
per month in the coming years and raising concerns within some circles of a socalled bubble in the sector.
In an informal poll of several hundred
aircraft traders and lenders taken during the recent ISTAT airline finance conference, 74 percent thought narrowbody

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blanket judgment. “You have to look at
each individual circumstance,” he said,
while noting that the 100 Boeing 737900ERs that Delta Air Lines ordered last
year will replace 28- to 30-year-old 757s.
Hazy called this past January’s Norwegian Airlines order for 100 B737 MAX8s,
22 B737-800NGs and 100 A320neos a
mission to “be both offensive and defensive,” and follow a strategy designed to
react to a possible implosion at SAS.
Finally, he explained, both Lion Air,
which in February placed an order for
201 B737 MAX9s and 29 B737-900ERs,
and Air Asia, which holds orders for
200 A320neos, plan a pan-Asian expansion beyond their predominant markets

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30 Farnborough Airshow News • July 11, 2012 • www.ainonline.com

DAVID McINTOSH

Www.canyonengineering.com

Less than five years ago it seemed almost routine for airlines and leasing groups to sign massive orders
with the main airframers, as then Dubai Aerospace Enterprise CEO Bob Johnson (foreground, right) is seen
doing here with Airbus executives at the 2007 Dubai Air Show, but now some in the aircraft finance sector are
questioning the wisdom of this buy-big approach to fleet growth.

rates from 2013 to 2015 would prove too
high. Only 9 percent rated narrowbody
rates too low, and 17 percent “just right.”
Meanwhile, some of the industry’s
highest profile leasing company executives
offered mixed, but carefully considered,
reactions to what CIT Group Transportation Finance president Jeffrey Knittel
called the “mega order syndrome.”
“There’re still a number of egos running airlines around the world,” quipped
ILFC chief executive Henri Courpron,
“but for a number of reasons it doesn’t
make sense to place small orders. As you
start a business, you need to give visibility to the investors, you need to give visibility to the community around you and
the people committed to your growth. So
that comes with a fleet plan.
“This said, there seems to be a little bit
of exuberance in airplane orders,” added
Courpron. “But this will sort itself out…
Boeing and Airbus are doing their jobs.”
Air Lease chairman and CEO Steven
Udvar Hazy similarly refused to offer a

of Indonesia and Malaysia. “So each of
these mega orders has its own flavor of
ice cream,” said Hazy.
Gecas leasing group boss Norman
Liu noted that customers have spread
such orders over eight to ten years, making the delivery schedules manageable.
“The ones I get a little bit nervous about
are the ones in which they start talking
about leasing company ventures or when
everybody has the same idea but it’s in the
same region,” Liu cautioned.
Finally, Awas leasing group CEO Raymond Sisson reached the most absolute
conclusion. “I think manufacturers are
trending production rates too high temporarily,” he said. “I believe you will see
that contract in time, as the delivery world
matches the order world more closely.
“As a lessor, I have a great deal of trouble making sense of speculative orders,”
he added. “When you talk about Neo
and MAX availability between 2017 and
2018, that’s a long time to be taking a risk
on escalation.”
o

Engine Options Reduce 787 Operating Cost
Boeing’s 787-8 is offered with both the 74,000-pound-thrust Rolls-Royce
Trent 1000 engines and General Electric’s GEnx turbofans. The GEnx family has a
thrust range of from 53,000 to 75,000 pounds.
The Trent 1000, which is the launch engine for the 787 family, powered the
first commercial Dreamliner, which was delivered in December to launch customer All-Nippon Airlines. ANA achieved a 90-percent dispatch rate in the first three
months of scheduled operations. According to Rolls-Royce, around three quarters of 787 orders to date have been for aircraft powered by the Trent 1000.
The GE engines received final U.S. certification in March. The first GEnx-1B
powered Dreamliner went to Japan Air Lines on March 26 for JAL’s Boston to Tokyo route, which were the first 787 operations in the U.S.
GE claims a 15-percent improvement in specific fuel consumption for the GEnx

South Carolina’s
first Dreamliner
uContinued from page 29

cycle from “freezer to flight,” a
reference to carbon fiber tape
that is infused with resin and
kept in cold storage, then wound
into fuselage sections and cured.
The mid-body building is
where Dreamliner fuselage barrels manufactured by Alenia
Aeronautica in Italy (sections
44 and 46); the forward fuselage
from Kawasaki Heavy Industries
in Japan (section 43) and center
wheelwell and center wing tank
(section 11/45) from Japan’s Fuji
Heavy Industries are joined and
stuffed with wiring. The fuselage subassembly facility under
Global Aeronautica was the
“main problem” behind 787 production delays, but is no longer
an issue, said Will Geary, Boeing
mid-body director of operations.
“Traveled work” items, or unfinished subcontractor tasks left to
be completed at final assembly,

family compared to comparably sized turbofans, and calls it the “cleanest, quietest, most passenger-friendly commercial engine ever produced.” The GEnx is the
quietest based on the ratio of perceived decibels to pounds of thrust of engines for
medium size, long-range airliners, and is said to have emissions “95 percent below
current regulatory standards” with a 30-percent longer on-wing duration, in large
part due to having 30 percent fewer parts than engines it replaces.
Part of the reason for the Dreamliner having markedly quieter cabin interiors
than comparable widebodies is the use of a new scalloped engine exhaust nozzle
fairing configuration. Advanced engine acoustic linings and new fans with larger,
slower turning blades also contribute to the 787 registering an 85dB noise level
in the airport environment, which Boeing claims represents a 60-percent smaller
noise footprint than those of comparable airliners. –B.C.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley
was among speakers at the rollout of
the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner
produced in the state.

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Hall 4

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have been reduced to “less than
five” of 4,000 total tasks in the
mid-body section.
“Suppliers are meeting my
expectations, both on schedule
and on the completeness of their
work,” Geary said during the
plant tour. “My number-one goal
is to achieve rate,” he added.
According to Jack Jones,
Boeing South Carolina general
manager, “It’s not unusual to get
travelers–work that doesn’t get
completed inside your factory.
A couple of hundred travelers is
not unusual on typical programs.
This airplane, the very first one
ever built here, is going to roll out
with 100 or less travelers.”
The 787 production rate
in South Carolina this year is
described as “transitional.”
Jones said Boeing plans to ramp
up to final assembly of 3.5 aircraft per month by late 2013 or
early 2014. The balance of seven
or more Dreamliners per month
will come from Everett.
o

The FAST Museum occupies the building in which
the RFC headquarters was established in 1912. The
new RFC/Royal Aircraft Factory exhibition there is
open every weekend.

Richard Gardner

Below, Matthew Boddington, pilot/owner of the
replica BE2 observation aircraft with Wing Cmdr. Nick
Tucker-Lowe, commanding officer of the RAF No. 2
Squadron, celebrated the centenary of the venerable
BE2 as well as the centenary of the Royal Aircraft
Factory and the Royal Flying Corps at Farnborough
on April 12. The RFC was formed in May 1912 in the
headquarters building seen here in the background.

Farnborough marks another
rich centenary of av heritage
Royal Aircraft Factory were officially created, paving the way for a new combined
British military air arm and an official center for aviation research and development.
The RFC grew out of the previously
fragmented activities carried out by
the British Army and Royal Navy, supported by visionary individuals and small
pioneering airplane companies. The
Royal Engineers Air Battalion, based at
Farnborough, and a Naval Wing, based
at Eastchurch, would form the basis of
the new joint air service, developing what
had been a mix of enthusiastic and negative official views on aviation, but bringing, at last, government support for a
cohesive organization that recognized the
potential of air power. And with increasing aviation progress in other European
countries, it was clear that more technical effort was needed if Britain was to be

FAST Collection

The Black Sheds, the row of elderly aircraft hangars situated at the eastern edge
of the Farnborough airfield, close to the
runway’s final approach, have been an
iconic feature at every airshow held at this
historic Hampshire location. But the protected Listed Grade 2 structures have been
standing there for a lot longer. In fact,
they originally housed some of the earliest British military aircraft as squadrons
were formed during the years that led up
to World War I.
Close by, just behind the Black Sheds,
alongside Farnborough Road and surrounded by a number of preserved classic
British-built jets, is a large white building
[also a Listed historic site] that was originally the headquarters of the Royal Flying
Corps (RFC). In April this year a double
centenary was celebrated here, for it was
on April 13, 1912, that the RFC and the

Richard Gardner

by Richard Gardner

FAST Collection

Production at the Royal
Aircraft Factory workshops
(above) increased to meet
demand for factory-built
airplanes during World War I.
At left, a Royal Aircraft
Factory BE2 flies over
Farnborough Common in
1912. Both photos are part
of the new exhibition at the
FAST Museum.

32 Farnborough Airshow News • July 11, 2012 • www.ainonline.com

able to grow a home aviation capability
that might supply the future needs of the
army and navy.
Since the end of the 19th century the
area around today’s show site has been
involved in military aviation, first with the
move of the army’s Balloon School and
Balloon Factory from nearby Aldershot
to Farnborough, and later as kites and airships were also built and test flown at what
was then Farnborough Common. It was
from the raised ground close to the Black
Sheds that Samuel Cody made the historic
first successful flight in the UK of a controlled, powered aircraft on Oct. 16, 1908.
Little did anyone realize at the time that
over the next decade British air power and
manufacturing would see massive expansion with the production and operation
of more than 22,000 military airplanes. In
1914, the Royal Navy resumed control of
its own air service, the RNAS, which was
merged with the RFC in 1918 during the
formation of the Royal Air Force.
World War I introduced the concept
of air warfare–a third dimension over the
battlefield–which has remained dominant
in military strategy to this day. This was
truly the dawn of military aviation, and
Farnborough was at its heart, with the
operational administration of early flying
units and, in the Royal Aircraft Factory, a
growing capacity to design, build and test
not only engines and airplanes, but everything to do with equipping and operating
them. While engine and aircraft production subsequently reverted to commercial
manufacturers, the research and development continued after 1918, when the
factory became the Royal Aircraft Establishment–the world famous RAE.
This year, on April 12, a replica BE2
returned to Farnborough’s skies and
parked in front of the original RFC headquarters. The original BE2, which first
flew 100 years ago, was designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built at the Royal
Aircraft Factory. The building, now the

museum of Farnborough Air Sciences
Trust (FAST), is located alongside the
famous Black Sheds, where many early
RFC squadrons were formed and based.
Participating at the celebrations marking
this centenary were representatives from
the first three RFC air squadrons, which
went on to become RAF Nos. 1, 2 and
3 Squadrons, and representatives from
the RAF Odiham base, which is only five
miles from Farnborough.
Later, an Army Air Corps Apache
joined the BE2 and a DH Dragon Rapide
in a fly-past over the former RFC headquarters. That building is now known
as Trenchard House, in memory of
Hugh Trenchard, “The father of the
RAF.” Trenchard worked in an office
there before taking the RFC squadrons to
the Western Front in France. Local Member of Parliament and defense minister
Gerald Howarth opened a new exhibition
in the FAST Museum dedicated to the
pioneering RFC and Royal Aircraft Factory activities during the 1912-18 period.
Providing a direct link with today’s
RAF front line was Wing Commander
Nick Tucker-Lowe, commanding officer of No. 2 (Army Cooperation) Squadron, based at RAF Marham operating
Tornado GR4s. This unit, which begins
another operational deployment to
Afghanistan this summer, painted one of
its Tornados with a special commemorative tail decoration featuring a BE2, the
first aircraft type the squadron flew in
May 1912 at Farnborough.
The FAST Museum is accessible
from Farnborough Road and is open
every weekend throughout the year.
During the Farnborough International
airshow period it is closed while prebooked events take place during the day,
with limited access available after 4 p.m.
during show week.
o
For further information visit the FAST
website: farnboroughairsciences.org.uk.

new helicopter will be based,
allowing common logistics and
a better exchange of experiences. The first three helicopters, in army configuration, were
retained by AgustaWestland
at Yeovil, where the company
ensures “factory delivered training” to army-qualified instructor pilots.

DAVID McINTOSH

Back to School

AgustaWestland’s Lynx Wildcat shares little with its ancestor, the Lynx. Only the rotor blades and rotor head are the same.

by Paulo Valpolini
AgustaWestland’s
AW159
Lynx Wildcat has moved closer
to being fully operational. The
initial release into service for the
British Army model was issued
last April and the first operational flight came on June 18.
The AW159 is the successor
of the Lynx helicopter family
although the only major components in common with the
earlier Lynx design are the main
rotor blades and rotor head.
The program includes the
manufacturing of 34 helicopters
for the British Army and 28 for
the Royal Navy. The UK Ministry of Defence’s intention was
to have in service a medium helicopter with improved performance, maximizing endurance
and range while increasing sensors and mission payloads. With
the new airframe, the AW159’s
maximum
takeoff
weight
(mtow) has increased to six metric tons compared to the 5.3
tons of the current SuperLynx,
and it has a growth capacity up
to 6.25 tons.
Current LHTEC CTS800
engines can provide 1,400 shp
maximum output each (1,281
shp continuous), the transmission being able to accommodate 1,960 shp (that will become
2,150 shp with the adoption of
a new output stage). The new
tail rotor is already designed
for the 6.25-ton model, while
the legacy rotor, which features
a manual blade-folding system,
allows the use of the AW159 at
six tons mtow.
The flight-test program is
going according to schedule,

and in late May about 500 of
the planned 600 flight development hours had been flown,
three trials helicopters being
available to the company at
Yeovil. Those three aircraft are
part of the 62 ordered, and at
the end of the production they
will be refurbished to standard
configuration and handed over
to the customer.
Helicopter performance test­­
ing has been finished, including
the demanding hot-and-high trials that were carried out in Colorado in summer 2010, the vast
majority of the remaining 100
hours being dedicated to the
navy variant. A first ship-andshore trial period was carried
out in November 2011, while a
second session in rougher seas
and with rolling deck was completed in January 2012. A third
and final testing period aboard
ship will be conducted in late
2012/early 2013, depending on
Royal Navy ship availability.
Sea Legs

The naval variant can carry
out ship operations from rolling
decks up to 23 degrees and sea
state 6, and is oriented mostly
toward antisubmarine and antisurface warfare missions. In the
latter configuration, a typical
payload would include defensive aid subsystems, Thales
lightweight multi-role missiles
and auxiliary fuel tanks to provide a 145-nm (270-km) radius
of action.
Sensors include a Selex Galileo 7400E 360-degree active-array radar and an L3 Wescam

Goodrich
life raft
holds six
The value of a life raft
in a post-emergency situation is compromised if rescue
services cannot see it. Accordingly, enhanced visibility from
the air is a major characteristic of the six-person Winslow
Ultra-Light raft being shown
here at Farnborough International by Goodrich (Outdoor
Exhibit 4). The raft features
dual buoyancy tubes, a triarch automatically inflating
canopy providing good head­room and an inflatable, insulated double-floor to offer
protection from hypothermia. Boarding aids ensure
survivors can quickly enter
the raft, even when wearing
survival suits.
–I.G.

DAVID McINTOSH

AW159 Lynx Wildcat
is out of the bag on time

MX-15Di optronic suite. Surface surveillance, third-party targeting in AsuW missions, boarding party and counterterrorism
missions, as well as utility missions are also part of the AW159
roles. The army variant will lack
the radar and will be equipped
with door gun posts for a machine gun.
All Lynx Wildcats will be
based at RNAS Yeovilton,
where both the navy and the
army units equipped with the

Two five-week courses for
five pilots are being scheduled and are due to be completed late this month. The first
three army AW159s were delivered to Wildcat Fielding Team
(army) at Yeovilton, where
army instructors will ensure
type conversion for the pilots
assigned to the new helicopter,
while four more were planned
to be delivered by late June.
Type conversion will be followed by conversion to role,
where pilots will learn the operational use of the helicopter,
leading to the IOC [initial operational capability] for the army,
scheduled for 2014.
The company will be involved
in the army trials, a combined
team ensuring maximum learning from that phase. In September it will be the turn of navy
instructor pilots to carry out

their type conversion on the
Wildcat, navy initial release
into service being planned for
November this year, followed
by deliveries to Wildcat Fielding
Team (navy).
The first helicopter aimed
at the Fleet Air Arm is the
eighth and should fly in the
second half of July and the
navy is planning its IOC in
2015. AgustaWestland is building the Wildcat Training Facility at Yeovilton and will install
the two full-flight simulators,
a flight-training device and
cockpit procedures trainer, as
well as maintenance training
devices; it will then be delivered to the UK MoD, although
the company is to be retained
to run the facility.
As for export opportunities, AgustaWestland currently
sees them as mostly naval. The
Wildcat was shortlisted in Denmark, where the company is
currently in negotiation with
the defense ministry, as well as
in South Korea where the Super
Lynx is already in service; in
both cases, the AgustaWestland
helicopter is bidding against the
Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk. A
choice might be announced in
both nations before the end of
this year.
o

www.ainonline.com • July 11, 2012 • Farnborough Airshow News 33

With Middle Eastern airlines Emirates, Etihad and Qatar
Airways experiencing exponential growth in the Arabian Gulf,
there is a growing requirement for qualified pilots. The Gulf
Aviation Training Event (GATE) will bring a panel of industry
experts together to discuss and debate the pilot shortage in the
region. Scheduled for September 16-17 at the Al Bustan Rotana
Hotel in Dubai, the conference, themed Breaking the Paradigms:
Flight Training at $150 a Barrel, will be led by Capt. Ed Davidson,
senior v-p for air transport consultancy Tetra Tech.
The GATE panel includes Capt. Martin Mahoney, Emirates
senior v-p for flight training; Eng. Ismaiel Al Balooshi, director
of flight safety and operations for the United Arab Emirates;
and Mike Varney, a training consultant with the International Air
Transport Association.
Concurrently, the Gulf Air Traffic Management conference will
address air traffic management (ATM) developments. Produced
by F&E Aerospace, as is the GATE event, it will include a summit
titled, ATM Imperatives: Protecting the Gulf’s Economic Growth.

z UK To Receive A400M Thales Full-Flight Simulator
Airbus Military will supply a Thales full-flight simulator (FFS)
for the A400M Atlas airlifter to the UK Royal Air Force in spring
2014, ahead of the aircraft’s entry into RAF service in late 2014.
A joint venture between Airbus Military and Thales will maintain
the FFS, which will be located at RAF Brize Norton, where all 22
UK Atlas aircraft will be based.
This is the fourth FFS to be procured for the A400M program,
the previous three being for France, Germany and for the Airbus
Military International Training Centre in Seville, Spain. Thales
Training and Simulation is producing them in its Crawley, UK
facility. Airbus Military said the software and data package is being
developed to Airbus commercial standards to reduce the time it
takes for changes to the aircraft to be reflected in the simulators.

z Gripen Shows Off New E-Scan Radar

Five days after delivery, this
Galileo E-Scan radar was
here on a Saab Gripen.

Saab and Selex Galileo revealed
the Gripen NG’s new repositioning
AESA (active electronically scanned
array) radar for the first time in public
here at the Farnborough International
airshow. Selex Galileo delivered the
preproduction ES-05 Raven radar to
Saab on June 12. Five days later, in
time for the show, it was fitted in the
Gripen NG. A second identical radar,
complete with repositioning system,
is being retained at Selex Galileo’s
Edinburgh facility for roof tests.

z S-92 Certified for Sea State 6 Conditions
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has approved the
Sikorsky S-92 helicopter for sea state 6 conditions, completing
the S-92A emergency flotation system sea-state expansion for
additional mission capability. The European Aviation Safety
Agency has also certified the system and approval by Transport
Canada is expected soon.
Meanwhile, Sikorsky Aerospace Services has launched new
mobile applications for the Sikorsky360 web portal to provide
access to maintenance information for customers.

z Marshalls Extends C-130 Support Capability
Lockheed Martin signed an agreement with Marshall
Aerospace this week that makes the Cambridge, UK-based
company the first in the world to be authorized to install
C-130 center wing boxes. The CWB is the main load-bearing
component in the C-130 airframe and is the one that largely
determines the aircraft’s service life. Therefore, replacing the
CWB can give the Hercules many years more life. Marshall
Aerospace is already the first C-130J heavy maintenance center
in the world, and the authorization for CWB work places the
company well for long-term global fleet sustainment.

Dassault toasts rollout
of the 200th Falcon 7X
The 200th large-cabin, longrange Falcon 7X business jet has
rolled off the production line at
Dassault’s Bordeaux-Merignac
production facility in southern France, the French aircraft
manufacturer announced here
at Farnborough. The aircraft is
slated to enter final cabin completions this week, the French
manufacturer announced here
at the Farnborough International airshow.
“We are especially proud of
this milestone,” said Dassault
Falcon president and CEO John
Rosanvallon. “The 7X is clearly
the best seller in the current Falcon family and remains one of
the most sought after jets in its
category.”
To date, Dassault Falcon has
delivered more than 150 fully
outfitted Falcon 7Xs, while
another 80 are in various stages
of production or cabin completions. The Falcon 7X fleet
has logged more than 130,000
flight hours since the first aircraft went into service in 2007
and is in operation in 32 countries around the world.
Rosanvallon said that in the
five years since the business jet
entered service, it has developed

dozens of new options that give
customers a “wide range of
desirable features.” In particular, the company has focused
on developing features that
increase cabin comfort, including a recently added option for
a shower aboard the trijet. A
First entering service five years
ago, the Falcon 7X is the best seller
of the Dassault business jet line.
The 200th example will enter the
completions facility this week.

Russian Helicopters’ FBW
to be replaced in Ansat twin
by Thierry Dubois
Russian Helicopters is rede- Serial production should then
veloping the Ansat light twin start in January.
The next step will be certihelicopter with conventional
flight controls instead of the fication by the European Avifly-by-wire (FBW) system with ation Safety Agency, which is
which it has been flying to date. hoped for 2013 or 2014. “We
are developing a new
It is primarily targetfuel system to comply
ing the Russian marwith European requireket but has broader
ments,” Ansat marketviews for the mid term.
ing director Andrey
The airframer has perIvantsov, said here
formed the first demat the Farnborough
onstration flight with a
International airshow
hydromechanical flight
yesterday. Prospective
control system.
countries and regions,
The testing proin addition to Russia
gram, which involves
Andrey Ivantsov,
two prototypes for marketing director for and later South Asia
flight and ground tests, Russian Helicopters. and Africa, would
then include Eastern
started last year. The
Europe.
manufacturer has filed
The FBW control system in
an application with the Interstate Aviation Committee’s Air the original Ansat met “an unexRegistry for additional type cer- pected obstacle, as no FBW
tification. It expects to achieve it civil helicopter had been cerin the fourth quarter of this year. tified before and no standard

34 Farnborough Airshow News • July 11, 2012 • www.ainonline.com

BMW-designed interior option,
launched in 2009, introduced
subtle curves throughout the
interior, creating better flow and
visually expanding the cabin.
Dassault has also incorporated new features as standard
equipment since entry into service, such as a Rockwell Collins cabin entertainment system
equipped with an interactive
3-D moving map and an audio/
video on demand solution that
was first installed on a customer
7X in May. –C.T.

MARK WAGNER

z Gulf Aviation Event Addresses Pilot Shortage

THIERRY DUBOIS

news clips

requirements existed.” Russia’s
defense ministry currently uses
about 25 helicopters of the type,
FBW-equipped, for pilot training. Ivantsov said that once certification rules are defined for
FBW helicopters Russian Helicopters will apply for approval.
In addition to the new control system, an autopilot will
be standard on the redeveloped Ansat. A lot of optional
civil equipment will be available,
said Ivantsov. Two Fadec-controlled Pratt & Whitney Canada
PW207Ks, each providing 630
shp at takeoff, power the Ansat.
Ivantsov emphasized that the
helicopter may be the first light
twin equipped with anti-icing
systems for both the main and
the tail rotors.
The Ansat can fly at 145
knots, its service ceiling is 18,000
feet and it can carry up to eight
passengers or two stretchers plus
three paramedics. Cabin volume
stands at 282 cu ft.
o

news clips
General Electric said yesterday that component efficiency
improvements on its CF6-80E1 engine would provide up to a
1-percent improvement in fuel efficiency for Airbus’s planned
extended-range A330. The airframer announced plans for the
new development with an increased maximum takeoff weight
at the Farnborough International airshow on Monday. The U.S.
engine manufacturer expects to deliver the enhanced engine for
the first 240-metric-ton A330 in 2015.
“Since GE Aviation’s CF6-80E1 engine entered service on
the A330 in 1994, GE Aviation and Airbus have committed to
investing in the engine and aircraft to provide additional benefits
to customers,” said Chuck Williams, general manager of the CF6
program at GE Aviation. “The enhancements to the engine and
aircraft will allow for an increased payload, greater range and
lower operating costs on the CF6-80E1 engine,” he added.
The improvements will become the production standard for
all new CF6-80E1 engines, said GE, while current operators can
incorporate many of these enhancements at engine overhaul.
GE has delivered more than 500 CF6-80E1 engines for the
Airbus A330.

TAI’s Hurkus turboprop
expected to fly next year

z Raytheon To Provide Podded ISR AESA

by David Donald

Raytheon has been awarded a contract to provide four podded
dismount detection radar (DDR) systems to the U.S. Air Force.
The SAR/GMTI (synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target
indicator) sensors are for carriage by General Atomics MQ-9 Block
5 Reaper UAVs, and the new radars will provide operators with the
ability to find and track individuals and vehicles. The Block 5 is the
forthcoming upgraded version of the Reaper.
DDR was initiated in early 2011 as a QRC (quick reaction
capability) program for fielding in Afghanistan. Raytheon was
originally handed a $76 million contract in February, but the
award was subject to an appeal by Northrop Grumman. The
U.S. Government Accountability Office rejected that appeal on
May 25. Little detail has been revealed about DDR, other than
it is an AESA (active electronically scanned antenna) radar.
Mounting such a system in a pod allows it to be moved between
individual platforms, and possibly platform types, to match
mission requirements.

z Engine Lease Finance Adopts CFM Portable
Engine Lease Finance (ELFC) has become the first
CFM International (CFMI) spare-engine lessor to use the
manufacturer’s portable maintenance for lessors (PML) program
under a memorandum of understanding that could be formally
ratified by year’s end. The scheme allows CFMI to provide
engine maintenance, repair and overhaul services for leased
fleets under PMLs that will be transferable between lessees,
enabling them to more accurately predict maintenance costs,
while permitting lessors to control such costs throughout the life
of an aircraft, said CFMI.

z Piemonte Region Promotes Aviation Interests
Supported by the Torino Chamber of Commerce, 16
exhibitors from Piemonte, a region in northwest Italy, are
presenting their systems and components and the services they
collectively offer at the Farnborough International airshow (Hall
1 Stand C13B). The programs include: Green Glider, an ultralight
electric propelled plane; a navigation system for launchers; and
environmental sensors are on display.

z Airbus Cuts First Metal for A320neo
Airbus announced that the first “cutting of metal” for the
A320neo took place in Toulouse recently. This took the form
of machining an engine pylon component at the Saint-Eloi
factory, which specializes in pylons and nacelles. The A320neo
pylon uses more titanium and some “advanced architectures”
developed for the A380 pylon.
The A320neo targets 15-percent fuel savings compared to
previous models; customers have a choice between the CFM
Leap or Pratt & Whitney PW1100G geared turbofan.

multi-tasking target system
From Sacramento, California, Composite Engineering’s BQM-177i target system is configurable for up to eight
simultaneous target profiles. It can carry 45.35 kg on each wing station and can cruise as low as 3.4 meters agl.

Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) rolled out the first
prototype of its Hurkus trainer
on June 27 in the presence of
Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, and yesterday
it revealed details of the program here at the show.
Designed entirely in Turkey
by a team led by Aylin Ararat,
the new aircraft is named after
Vecilis Hurkus, a famed aviation pioneer whose achievements
included being the first Turkish
pilot to score an aerial victory;
the establishment of the country’s first airline; and the design
and manufacture of several aircraft types. A replica of one of
Hurkus’s designs was built to
coincide with the new trainer’s
rollout ceremony.
A program for the development of an indigenous basic
trainer was first authorized in January 2005, with a development
contract being awarded to TAI
(Hall 4 Stand H2) on Mar. 15,
2006. The contract covered the
design and manufacture of four
airframes, comprising two flying
prototypes and two for static and
fatigue tests. A preliminary design
review was held in August 2007,
and a critical design review was
conducted two years later.
First Flight Next April

Following last month’s rollout, the first prototype (registered TC-VCH) has entered
the final testing phase prior to
making its first flight, scheduled for next April. Civil type
certification by the European
Aviation Safety Agency and
Turkish authorities is planned
for December 2014.
Hurkus has been designed
to fulfill a Turkish air force

36 Farnborough Airshow News • July 11, 2012 • www.ainonline.com

requirement for a primary and
basic trainer, and negotiations
are ongoing regarding a production contract. TAI hopes that
Turkish Land Forces aviation
will also adopt the Hurkus for
its training needs. The air force
is in the process of overhauling
its training program, and TAI
is currently building 40 KT-1T
trainers under license from
Korea Aerospace Industries to
begin the replacement of the air
force’s aging Cessna T-37s. The
company is also modernizing 55
Northrop Talon supersonic jet
trainers with new avionics, and
delivered the first T-38M back
to the air force this April.
Hurkus is similar in general
layout to other modern turboprop trainers, but has some notable differences. A requirement
was a very low stall speed, and
the design is the only aircraft in
its class to feature area-extending
Fowler flaps. Combined with an

DAVID McINTOSH

z GE Boosts CF6-80E1 for A330

advanced TAI-designed aerofoil
section they bestow a stall speed
of just 77 knots. At the other end
of the speed regime the 1,600-shp
Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A68T pushes the Hurkus along at a
310-knot cruising speed. Endurance is 4 hours 15 minutes and
g limits are +7/-3.5. The stepped
cockpit provides excellent fields
of view from both cockpits. The
front seat offers forward visibility down to 10 degrees below the
horizon, while the aft seat has a
creditable 5 degrees of forward
vision below the horizon. Both
cockpits are fitted with MartinBaker Mk 11BN zero-zero ejection seats.
Hurkus-A is the initial version, with a cockpit certified to
civilian EASA CS-23 standards.
Following will be the HurkusB, featuring GPS/INS, mission
computer and a mil-spec cockpit
with three large multifunction
screens and a head-up display.
TAI is planning further variants,
including a surveillance version
with an electro-optical sensor
turret and a close-air-support
version known as Hurkus-C,
with three hardpoints under
each wing and a seventh on
the centerline.
o

The prototype Hurkus is rolled out at TAI’s Akinci works near
Ankara. Aylin Ararat, inset, leads the design team that has
produced the turboprop trainer.

Two lessors hop on board
the Boeing bandwagon
Boeing’s 737 MAX program picked up further market
momentum yesterday as a pair
of high-profile leasing companies–GECAS and ALAFCO–
committed to a total of 120
airplanes worth almost $11 billion at list prices.
The larger of the two deals,
inked by U.S. leasing giant
GECAS, covered 75 of the
future CFM International Leap
1B-powered narrowbodies, as
well as 25 of the current singleaisle 737NGs.
Potentially worth some
$9 billion at list prices, that
contract calls for delivery of
twenty-five 737NGs starting
in 2015, followed by the 75
MAXs in 2018, GECAS chief
executive Norman Liu revealed
during a Farnborough International airshow press conference yesterday.
Middle East Deal

GREGORY POLEK

The second commitment,
signed by Kuwaiti lessor
ALAFCO, covered twenty 737

delivery of the last airplane in
July 2011.
GECAS, meanwhile, already
carries some 380 Boeing
737NGs in its product portfolio.
“A couple of years ago we
placed an order for 40 newgens [New Generation 737s],
and basically we placed them all
out,” said Liu.
“So the 25 units that ship
in 2015, 2016 and a little bit in
2017…hey, it’s because we’ve
run all out.
“Right now we wish we had
some more [NGs],” added Liu.
“They’ve been great assets and
we think we’ll have similar
success with the MAX.” Liu
expressed a desire to convert
the commitment to a firm order
for the airplanes as soon as
possible. “We’re going to start
working on a contract in the
weeks ahead,” said Liu. “We’re
very anxious to get it signed.”
The contract contains the
“convertibility” for GECAS
to opt for the larger MAX 9s,
which, said Liu, will account for

MAX 8s worth some $1.9 billion
at list prices. ALAFCO chairman Ahmad Alzabin hesitated
to talk about delivery schedules
because, he said, negotiations
over a firm order hadn’t reached
that advanced stage.
Although
the
contract
marked the first foray into the
strategically vital Middle East
market for the MAX program,
Alzabin wouldn’t rule out placing the airplanes with airlines
outside the region.
ALAFCO ordered six 737800s in March 2007 and took

“a fair chunk” of the deliveries.
MAX 8s, however, will account
for the majority, he added.
The pair of deals brings to
three the number of leasing
companies with which Boeing
has signed major contracts at
the show.
After signing a deal for 75
MAXs with California-based
Air Lease Corp. on Monday, Boeing holds firm orders
for 549 of the CFM Leap1B-powered jets, while its
commitment tally stands at
more than 1,000.
o

MARK WAGNER

by Gregory Polek

heavy wing loading
Though designed as a trainer, the Yak 130 is also a capable attack platform. Its array of available under-wing
ordnance is evident in this photo of the demonstrator alighting here at the Farnborough International airshow.

Cathay dumps 747 for A350-1000s
by Ian Goold
Cathay Pacific Airlines has
confirmed its plan to replace
its aging Boeing 747-400 fleet
with Airbus A350-1000s in a
new $4.2 billion deal signed
at the Farnborough International airshow yesterday. The
Hong Kong-based carrier has
placed new orders for 10 aircraft, and will convert 16 existing orders for the A350-900
into the larger variant.
Acquisition of the A3501000s is subject to the approval
of the airline’s board of directors, but with chairman Christopher Pratt and chief executive
John Slosar having flown all the
way to the UK to participate in
an Airbus press conference this
would seem to be a foregone conclusion. The A350-1000s will be
powered by two 97,000-poundthrust Rolls-Royce Trent XWB
engines–the most powerful ever
developed for an Airbus aircraft–which would be covered
by a long-term TotalCare service
support contract.
The Cathay A350-1000s typically will accommodate 350 passengers in a three-class cabin
configuration and are planned to
be able to fly 8,400 nm nonstop.
The wider A350 family, dubbed
XWB for “extra wide body” by
Airbus, is a new mid-size, longrange design comprising three
models seating between 270 and
350 passengers and scheduled to
enter service in 2014. The manufacturer claims firm orders for
548 aircraft from 34 customers.

The announcement came
seven days after the airline
declared in a company environmental report that it might not
have found the most effective
sustainability solutions. “But we
are striving to find them,” it said.
A year ago, at the Paris Air
Show, Airbus confirmed that,
with engine supplier Rolls-Royce,
it had decided to review the A350
design and performance criteria in
a bid to attract customers for the
largest variant. The more powerful Trent XWB extended range
by an additional 600 miles but
the program would run two years
later than originally scheduled.
“Our Job To Listen”

Yesterday, Airbus said it is
possible that any airline wanting
to fly the A350 at the original
lighter -1000 specification (the
manufacturer held orders for 74
of them at the time of the design
review) would be able to operate
at a lower gross weight with derated engines.
Slosar acknowledged that Cathay had “not been shy” about
making its requirements known
before Airbus reworked the design. It required passenger comfort, environmental efficiency
and good operating economics.
Airbus president and chief executive Fabrice Bregier said it is
part of the manufacturer’s job to
listen as had been confirmed by
the “very successful” launch of
the A350-900.
The Cathay official said he

believes Airbus is making very
good progress on development
of the higher-weight A350-1000,
which the airline always had in
mind when choosing a new aircraft. The greater range of the latest variant would enable Cathay
to operate “nonstop to anywhere
in the world that we [fly to].”
But Slosar deflected questions about any aspirations to
order the larger A380 quad-jet,
saying that the airline’s operation
of large twin-engine widebodies
had been “a huge success”
with four 15-hour flights a day
between Hong Kong and New
York. Nevertheless, one “should
never say ‘never’; the efficiency
of long-haul [services] is very
important for ‘Hong Kong to
the world’ and ‘the world to
Hong Kong’ [operations].” o

Drukair orders
A319 with
‘sharklets’
Following a memorandum
of understanding established
last February, Bhutan national
carrier Drukair has placed a
firm order for an Airbus A319
equipped with “sharklet”
wingtips to complement the
two A319s it has in its fleet.
The additional capacity will
support planned new Drukair
routes, such as flights to Singapore and Hong Kong, and
increase current services.–I.G.

www.ainonline.com • July 11, 2012 • Farnborough Airshow News 37

Embraer and Boeing
partner on Super Tucano

DAVID McINTOSH

Embraer and Boeing signed
an agreement here yesterday to
collaborate on the integration
of new weapons on the A-29
Super Tucano single-engine turboprop trainer.
The deal adds yet another
twist to the saga of the U.S.
Air Force Light Air Support
(LAS) program, where the
Super Tucano is pitched against
the somewhat similar Hawker
Beechcraft AT-6. Embraer and
Boeing said their new cooperation would not only enhance the
Super Tucano solution for LAS,
it would exceed the requirement
“in ways that are important to
the customer.”
There is a wider context to
the news; Embraer and Boeing
signed a broad cooperation
agreement in April, followed
two months later by a deal to
collaborate on Embraer’s new
KC-390 airlifter. “Why not space
in the future?” said Luiz Carlos
Aguiar, president of Embraer
Defesa & Seguranca.
“This agreement enables
integration of Boeing products

like JDAM [missiles] on a highly
affordable turboprop aircraft
that offers unique close-airsupport capabilities to customers worldwide,” said Dennis
Muilenberg, president and
CEO of Boeing Defense, Space
and Security.
The Super Tucano is being
offered for the LAS requirement
by Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC).
Chris Chadwick, president of
Boeing Military Aircraft, told
AIN that his company offered
“weapons capabilities that SNC
does not have.”
Coincidentally, Boeing is
aiming to fill Brazil’s requirement for 36 new fighters with
the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet,
against stiff competition from
the Dassault Rafale and Saab
Gripen.
Meanwhile, the collaboration
on the KC-390 includes technical exchange on innovation and
design that leverages Boeing’s
C-17 heavy airlifter experience.
A joint global market study is
under way to assess the market
potential, said Aguiar.
o

Signing a partnership pact are Embraer president of defense
and security Luiz Carlos Aguiar, left, and Boeing president
and CEO of defense and security Dennis Muilenburg.

Boeing inks
three partnerships
uContinued from page 1

whistles” from the larger, Boeing-designed aircraft.
Debbie
Rub,
Boeing
vice president missiles and
unmanned airborne systems,
explained that Elbit’s Hermes
product line “complements
the Boeing unmanned portfolio while addressing an important need for U.S. warfighters
and allies.” Boeing is developing
a high-altitude long-endurance
(HALE) unmanned vehicle: the
Phantom Eye. It offers small

UAVs via the Insitu subsidiary.
The Hermes 450 and 900 are
medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) vehicles.
Interestingly, a triangular
relationship between Boeing,
Elbit and Embraer has been
established in Brazil, where
Boeing is pitching the F-18
Super Hornet fighter. AEL
Sistemas, the Brazilian subsidiary of Elbit, was chosen earlier
this year by Boeing to provide
large cockpit displays for the
F-15 and the F-18 fighters. It
would therefore come as no surprise to learn that the Embraer
Legacy 600 is Boeing’s preferred
business jet for the MSA.
o

DAVID McINTOSH

by Neelam Mathews & Chris Pocock

A visit from Britain’s Prime Minister may have the Eurofighter
Typhoon upgrade program on more solid ground.

Typhoon upgrade path
now on firmer footing
by Chris Pocock
Boosted by a visit from British
Prime Minister David Cameron
on Monday, yesterday Eurofighter described an upgrade
path for the Typhoon that finally
appears to be on a firm footing.
“The integration of the Meteor
missile, an electronically scanned
radar, enhancements of the
defensive aids system…would all
boost the world-beating capabilities of this fantastic aircraft. This
progress is good for industry,
export customers and the RAF,”
the prime minister commented.
Eurofighter chief executive
officer Enzo Casolini reported
that the four partner nations had
issued a request for quotations
(RFQ) on the e-scan version
of the Captor radar earlier this
month. The consortium would
respond by October and a contract would be signed by mid2013. Test flights could follow
by the end of that year, leading
to service entry in 2015, he said.
The industry partners and the

Euroradar consortium have been
pre-funding the development.
The Captor-E will feature
mechanical repositioning of
the antenna for enhanced performance, as previously shown
in model form. But according
to Berndt Wuensche, chairman
of the Eurofighter supervisory
board, the double swashplate
mounting has been dropped
in favor of a single swashplate
solution. However, he hinted
that the consortium would price
both options when it responds
to the RFQ.
Casolini said a contract to
integrate the MBDA Meteor
beyond-visual-range air-to-air
missile would be in place by the
end of the year. The consortium
was proposing a mid-2015 target for operational clearance,
he added. The latest edition of
Eurofighter’s in-house magazine
gives mid-2016 as the target date.
There was much talk of the
complicated nomenclature by

Airbus EFB functionality on an Apple iPad
Fifteen years after provision of the first electronic flight bags (EFBs),
airlines will soon be able to download the first Airbus aircraft performance-calculating applications for pilots to use with their iPads. Part of
the “FlySmart with Airbus” range, the applications will offer an alternative to PC-operating system EFBs, claims the manufacturer.
Pilots will be able to carry out aircraft performance calculations and
consult Airbus operations manuals. “By combining EFB content with
the iPad, pilots [can] optimize performance while saving cost, weight,
and time,” said Airbus customer services executive vice-president
Didier Lux. The manufacturer will introduce the equipment for standard
use by its flight-test and training department and licenses for the applin
cations will be available to Airbus customers.

which various software and
hardware enhancements are
described. In summary, they have
recently included the helmetmounted sight–“an enormous
step,” according to BAE Systems
chief test pilot Mark Bowman–
as well as display improvements
and MIDS enhancements.
Bowman said the Typhoon has
“started to move forward into a
true multi-role capability.” However, operational clearance of
the long-awaited full integration
of dual-mode laser/GPS-guided
bombs (EGBU-16 or Paveway
IV, with onboard designation
from Litening III pods) is apparently still 18 months away. No one
mentioned the Storm Shadow or
Taurus cruise missiles or the Brimstone close-support weapon, but
the Eurofighter magazine promises integration of the former “by
2015,” with the latter following.
The previously slow pace of
upgrades has dented the jet’s
export prospects. Eurofighter officials still talk of making a revised
offer to India should negotiations
for the Dassault Rafale falter. The
Typhoon is a contender for the
60-aircraft Korean Fighter Program III. The consortium has made
generous technology transfer and
coproduction offers in an attempt
to boost the Typhoon’s chances
against the front-running U.S. candidates: the Boeing F-15SE Silent
Eagle and the Lockheed Martin
F-35 Lightning II. Malaysia was
also mentioned, even though that
country has not confirmed a budget for a new fighter buy.
o
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